Right Here Waiting
by Yaminoko-Jeichan
Summary: COMPLETED: The sequel to 'To Say Goodbye', Hiei and everybody else are trying to get use to life without Kurama, but circumstance and tragedy makes it impossible to find true peace and closure.
1. New Start

_This is the sequel to 'To Say Goodbye', if you haven't read that story you should before you read this one so you know what's going on._

Silent and slow, the sun crawled across the sky, shining intently down on the earth, illuminating the landscape with bright rays of light. Blue skies overhead, not a cloud in sight, and a gentle breeze flitting by—the perfect day after a week of torturously intense humid ones; Hiei smiled, wistfully gazing at the sky before checking to see where the fox cub was. Five weeks had passed since he found the fox cub and adopted him as a pet, during which Hiei slowly regained some of his demonic powers, but not all, as well as got used to the fact that Kurama was gone.

Though, of course to him, Kurama didn't seem very far away at all—every time Hiei looked at the fox cub with its intensely red fur dark auburn eyes, he was reminded of his fox and it eased him to think of the cub as Kurama. Little Ku—chan he called it, short for Kurama-chan, and he took precious care of it, never letting it wander out of his sight for more than a minute.

"Where are you, little Ku-chan?" Hiei cooed, gazing from bush to bush for the six week old fox cub, finding him lying under a blooming rosebush sleeping. Picking Ku-chan up carefully, trying not to wake him, Hiei held the cub close to him, walking to a nearby stream and lied down, placing the sleeping cub on his chest.

Six weeks, it seemed longer than that, but it had been six weeks since that day when Kurama died and Hiei escaped Karasu—he still had nightmares about it. Memories of what Karasu did to him flooded Hiei's mind, awakening him from every sleep in fright—for four weeks Hiei hadn't gotten a full night's sleep, the nightmares were too unbearably vivid.

Now, however, as sleep overwhelmed the fire-demon, he hoped that no nightmares of Karasu would disturb his rest.

Meanwhile at Harajuku station, Hinansho walked passed a bridge crowed with people hoping to drown his thoughts with the sights and sounds of a busy weekend afternoon. However, memories of Kurama's sickness and death ran rampant through his mind, wistfully saddening him as he walked through the crowd. Hinansho couldn't stand not having Kurama around, and he couldn't forgive Karai for reviving Karasu and allowing him to hurt them so much—even though Karasu was Karai's brother, Karai should've realized how dangerous that bastard could be. Karai should've realized what Karasu would do, and Hinansho couldn't forgive his ex-lover's lack of foresight.

"Hey you! Wait up!" A female voice called from the crowd of people, attracting Hinansho's attention as he turned to look at who the girl was and who she yelled for. It took him only a few seconds to realize it was him she headed for. "Who…?"

"You're Hinansho Kakusareta, right?" The girl asked stopping next to the boy, her bleach blond hair swaying slightly in a breeze, her blue eyes studying Hinansho curiously.

"Yes…and you are?"

"Akiko Kamigawa."

"A…kiko…?" Hinansho muttered, then gasping as he remembered where he heard that name before. "You! You were Shuui-chan's ex, the one who cheated on him."

"I…yes, I'm that Akiko—but I regret that now, believe me." Akiko replied, looking suddenly nervous, put off that Hinansho knew about that. "Um…how did you know…?"

"Shuui-chan told me." Hinansho replied studying Akiko suspiciously—what did she want from him? "What do you want?"

"I was wondering if you saw Shuuichi lately, I need to tell him something."

Taking a deep breath, Hinansho stared at Akiko with a sad look, fidgeting uncomfortably.

"Don't you know?" Hinansho asked uncomfortably.

"Know what? I've just got back from out of town, I've been living with my grandparents in Kyoto since Shuuichi and I broke up." Akiko answered, suddenly aware of Hinansho's uneasiness and sad stare, a bad feeling rising in her stomach. "Hinansho…what is it…?"

"Shuuichi's dead, he died six weeks ago."

"Wha…oh god no…." Akiko blanched, swaying on the spot at the news, almost falling to the ground before Hinansho caught her, supporting her on his shoulder. "I didn't know…Shuuichi…." Tears welled up in, and fell from her sky blue eyes, dripping onto Hinansho's arm, as she whimpered and shook, distraught.

"…." Speechless, Hinansho comforted Akiko until she stopped crying, bringing her to a nearby bench to sit down. After sitting in silence for a minute or two, Hinansho spoke, asking Akiko what she wanted to see Shuuichi for.

"I needed to tell him something." Akiko replied wiping her eyes with a handkerchief Hinansho handed her, her voice trembling. "I…I'm pregnant, and it's more than likely Shuuichi's the father."

"What! Oh, god…." Hinansho gasped, looking from Akiko's face to her abdomen, then back to her face, realizing that she must be only a couple of months pregnant. "How far along…?"

"Going on my third month. I came back to tell Shu-chan."

"Oh." Hinansho looked away, and then spoke after a brief silence. "Are you sure it's Shuuichi's?"

"I…um…I…it most likely is…."

"But you're not a hundred percent sure." Hinansho replied, bitterness rising through him. "So how many other men could be the father?"

"Only one other." Akiko replied, put off by Hinansho's rude abruptness.

"Then why don't you go to him? Since he was so good for you to cheat on Shuui-chan with, why don't you stay with him?" Hinansho replied cruelly, a strange bitter jealousy surging through him—if he had been a female he could be carrying Kurama's child instead of being left with nothing.

"I can't, he'd married." Akiko replied blushing and avoiding Hinansho's appalled and shocked stare.

"You…you cheated on Shuui-chan with a married man!"

"Yes."

"I don't believe this…." Hinansho abruptly stood up and walked away from Akiko, not slowing down when she called for him to stop. Desperate Akiko followed Hinansho through the crowded streets, not noticing someone in shadow studying them in the distance.

Elsewhere in the forest surrounding Genkai's by the stream where Hiei lay sleeping, Karai stood silently behind a tree, studying Hiei intently with wonder in his eye. Sleeping, Hiei looked so much like Hinansho, both had the same deep black hair and were around the same height—Karai bet that they even weighed the same. No wonder Kurama had taken to Hinansho so quickly, at first glance Hiei and Hinansho looked the same, only on closer look could one notice the differences. Hiei's face was thinner and more rigid than Hinansho's soft, round one, and Hinansho's black hair didn't stick up naturally in rigid spikes like Hiei's. Then there were their eyes—Hinansho's emerald green ones were the exact opposite of Hiei's intensely red ones, but subtracting that one obvious difference, only someone who knew both of them would be able to tell the difference. Kurama must've been ecstatic to find someone who looked so much like the fire-demon.

'Damn you brother. Why did you have to separate them when they needed each other?' Karai cursed Karasu in his thoughts, keeping silent as he saw Hiei tremble in his sleep.

Trembling immensely from the images flashing through his mind, Hiei awoke gasping and looking around wildly until he was sure it had only been a dream. Picking up the fox cub, who had awoken startled when Hiei sat up quickly, the shivering fire-demon held him close, comforting both of them.

"Ku-chan…." Hiei began, stopping when he sensed Karai's demon energy coming from behind him in the forest. Steeling himself up, Hiei turned to where Karai stood, narrowing his red eyes at the eavesdropping demon angrily. "What do you want?"

"I…um…." Karai mumbled taken aback that Hiei sensed him so quickly, all he had wanted to do was make sure nothing happened to the fire-demon since everything that happened was his fault because he had resurrected Karasu.

"Well?" Hiei growled studying Karai disdainfully—he wound never forgive Karai for resurrecting Karasu, neither would anybody else for that matter, even Hinansho refused to forgive his ex. "If you have nothing to say to me, then leave."

"Hiei, I…um…." Karai mumbled, then turned away, walking silently through the forest away from the fire-demon—he wished he could do something to help fix the problems his brother caused, but he didn't know what he could do. Karai continued walking deep in thought through the forest, wondering what else could go wrong.

Meanwhile, back at Harajuku Hinansho stopped and stared at Akiko, annoyed that the blond would continue to follow him, and wondering what she wanted him to do about her problems.

"Will you quit following me?" Hinansho growled, eyes narrowing as he studied Akiko carefully, debating the odds of the child she carried being Kurama's, wondering if Akiko had been truthful when she said there was only one other possibility. "I can't help you with your problem, and I wouldn't even if I could, so leave me alone." Hinansho seethed turning away as he whispered the word 'slut' just loud enough for Akiko to hear.

Blanching, tears welled up in Akiko's eyes, but she turned and walked away without another word, blending in with a passing crowd of people. Relieved that Akiko was gone, Hinansho sighed, gazed up and the sky briefly and began walking toward the nearest stores.

"That was very mean of you." A voice spoke behind him as he felt a hand grab his arm. Annoyed, Hinansho turned to look at who a girl he didn't know with hazel eyes and shoulder length dark red hair specked with strands of black and brown. "Calling someone that is very vulgar."

"Yeah, well if it's true it can't be helped." Hinansho muttered bitterly. "Who are you, anyway?" He asked studying the girl's appearance more thoroughly, noticing the black jeans and vest she wore both imprinted with the image of a red rose.

"That's of no consequence right now. You should go apologize to that girl right away; something might happen if you don't." The strange girl replied, stepping in front of Hinansho to stop him from leaving.

"I'll apologize to her when hell freezes over. Now get out of my way, I've got things to do." Hinansho growled, pushing pass the girl when she didn't move, not caring how rude it was, not caring when she fell to the sidewalk from his shove. However the weird girl got up quickly, jumping in front of him about five feet away, holding something in her right hand—a pendant on a string, tear shaped and dark hued. "Hey…that's my pendant! How did you…? Give it back, thief!"

"You have to catch me first, Kurounue!" The weird girl replied jumping away from Hinansho as he lunged at her furiously, not realizing what she said until moments later.

"Wha…ah! How do you know I'm Kurounue?" He gasped, stopping in mid jump to gap at the strange girl who stood just one leap out of his reach.

"You'll see it you catch me!" The strange girl giggled, dashing farther away from the boy, and then stopping to look back at him, taunting him with the pendant again.


	2. Troubled Waters

_For those of you who didn't figure it out, Hinansho is really Kurounue in a human body( I gave the first clue in one of the final chapters of 'To Say Goodbye.' the part with the pendant was the clue.) So in this chapter I'll refer to Hinansho as Kurounue and will continue doing so unless someone who doesn't know his indentity talks to him._

Kurounue(AKA Hinansho) followed after the hazel eyed girl, running, trying to overtake her, but ending up always just a leap behind, his anger building with each near miss. Cursing the girl and his human body, Kurounue continued after the girl intent on getting his pendant back and forcing the girl to tell him how she knew his true identity. She knew he was Kurounue—that was the most intriguing and startling thing about her, he hadn't even told Kurama who he was so how could a complete stranger know him?

Leaping after the girl, Kurounue followed her into an old abandoned building losing sight of her in the darkness of the unlit rooms, unable to track her anymore because of her silent footsteps. Listening to the deafening silence, searching for any sign of the girl, Kurounue growled, continuing forward, frustrated that this human girl had managed to steal his pendant from him, wondering how she even knew he had it on him.

"Quit playing games and give me back my pendant! Then tell me who and what you are since you can't be a normal human if you know so much about me." Kurounue shouted into the darkness tired of chasing the girl. 'Stupid, this human body can't run anymore. Damn it, how can a human girl have so much more endurance than I do?' He thought intrigued, bitter and angry, catching his breath as he looked back and forth across the room desperate for any sign of the girl.

"You should know who I am, Kurounue." The strange girl's voice rang out from the darkness, coming from above him—and sure enough, Kurounue looked up and saw the girl sitting on a rafter beam about twenty feet above the floor.

'How did she…?' Kurounue gaped at the girl, there was no logical way she could've climbed or jumped up there—at least not if she was human, it was too dark to find anyway to climb up and jumping—what human could jump twenty feet straight up in the air? "Okay…you can't be human, no human can jump that high. Urr…so get down here and give me my pendant and tell me who you are."

"Who said I jumped?"

"Damn it, quit fooling around, I would've heard you move boxes and things if you climbed…."

"That's what you assume—tell you what, you go apologize to Akiko and I'll give you the pendant back, however if you want to know who I am, you must find it out yourself."

"No, I demand you to give me back that pendant and tell me who you are!"

"…."

Meanwhile at Genkai's:

"Hey, Genkai, has Hiei been around here lately?" Yusuke asked, stepping through the door to the inside of the temple, carrying to large brown grocery bags, placing them on a table as he continued to the kitchen.

"No, Hiei's been staying in the mountains with that fox cub." Genkai replied, noticing the bags and eyeing Yusuke curiously. "What's the extra food for?"

"Oh, well Keiko's coming back from studying abroad today and I thought we could have a welcome back party for her." Yusuke replied taking out some groceries from the bags, then turning back to Genkai. "We can have the party her, right? Hah…."

"…Yes, but next time ask beforehand."

"Thanks, Genkai." Yusuke grinned, and then continued to take out food from the bags, while Genkai went to sit outside, cup of tea in her hand.

After about ten minutes, Yusuke stepped outside, sitting down next to Genkai, who was studying the sky and other surroundings.

"Um…Genkai, do you think Hiei will be okay with that fox cub? I mean…he and Kurama were close…and…."

"They were more than close, they were lovers."

"…Yes…I still can't believe…neither of them said anything about their relationship…." Yusuke muttered, looking up at the sky for a few seconds before turning his gaze back to Genkai. "So, do you think Hiei will be all right with Kurama gone?"

"I'm not sure; it's hard to tell what Hiei thinks about things. Whenever he's around he always acts cold and stern—more than he used to. But whenever he looks at that fox cub his demeanor changes—unless he knows he's being watched." Genkai replied sipping the last bit of tea from her cup, then placing it down next to her on the wooden porch, sighing. "I'm just worried that…Hiei will start treating that cub as though he is Kurama. We don't know for sure if that fox cub is him, there's a chance he is since he was born after Kurama died, but still…."

"…." Yusuke stared at Genkai, she didn't have to say anymore for him to get her meaning—if the fox cub wasn't Kurama, and Hiei found out, the fire-demon would suffer another emotional blow, one as devastating as the one Hiei suffered when Kurama died if that look Hiei had on his face that day was any indication. Yusuke never saw Hiei look so hopelessly distraught, usually the fire-demon masked all of his emotion behind his stoic cold act—to think Hiei's anguish of losing Kurama was too great to conceal, the fire-demon must've cared so much about the fox-demon. Yusuke realized that the fire-demon must've loved Kurama, to be hurt so much. "I think I'll see if I can find Hiei, see it I can get him to come to the party—but if he won't, I'll see if he'll visit at least."

"I don't think he will, but go ahead. There's a stream about seven miles north of here that he sometimes visits. Look there." Genkai spoke, getting cut off by the phone ringing inside the temple. "Can you go answer that?"

"Sure." Yusuke walked into the room and answered the phone, his expression curious and bewildered listening to the familiar voice. "Mom? What's the matter? What's…?" Yusuke's voice fell silent listening in shock to his mother's response, blanching as a sickening despair rushed through him. "…no…no that can't…." Yusuke whispered, his voice cracking, horror showing itself in his eyes and by the way he trembled.

"Yusuke? What is it? What's wrong?" Genkai asked, staring at Yusuke anxiously curious—something was terrible wrong if it affected Yusuke this badly. "What's…?"

Meanwhile, back at the abandoned building Kurounue and the girl were in, a long silence cloaked the air as the girl stared wide-eyed at the wall ignoring Kurounue's curious and angry glare. After a moment the girl glared down at Kurounue and spoke, her voice harsh, bitter and a bit mournful.

"I hope you're happy. It's happened. I tried to get you to prevent it, since I couldn't, but you had to be a stubborn asshole." The girl growled, dropping the pendant from her hand so that Kurounue could catch it, her eyes gleaming yellow. Glaring down at Kurounue both sad and angrily, the girl stood up on the rafter beam and jumped back seeming to vanish into the darkness before Kurounue's disbelieving eyes.

"Where did…?" Kurounue muttered, holding his pendant in his hand, staring into the darkness for the girl who seemed to have really vanished into thin air like an illusion or a ghost.

"A ghost?" Kurounue muttered while something to his left caught his attention, surprising him into dumbfounded shock at the sight of it. Vines, thick leafy vines clung to the wall, climbing up to the rafter above and wrapping around it. Trembling, his body becoming increasingly numb, Kurounue stepped toward the vines, his nose filling with the strong aroma of blooming roses, his eyes taking in the sight of a vibrant hued red rose lying on the floor at the foot of the vine. "What…?" Kurounue gulped, turning pale as he realized what the vines and rose meant, realizing with an intense certainty who the weird girl had truly been.

How it was possible, Kurounue couldn't figure out, but he knew the vines, rose, how the girl knew he was Kurounue, and the successful theft of his pendant, were too much of a coincidence—that girl had to have been Kurama. No matter how impossible and improbable it was, that girl had to be Kurama somehow—maybe a possession or disguise (though why the fox would use a disguise was beyond Kurounue).

"But why did he…?" Kurounue muttered thinking about what Kurama tried to get him to do. 'Why did he want me to help Akiko?' uneasy, Kurounue turned to leave, saddened he hadn't figured out before who the girl was, when a glinting glow caught his eye. Attracted by the glow like a moth to a light, Kurounue stepped toward it and picked up what it was coming from—a crystalline orb seeming as fragile as glass, but as sturdy and tough as a diamond, clear and unblemished except where the letters NCRS were engraved into the crystal. Glowing a constant white light, dim but clear, this orb felt hot and cold at the same time—the crystal material was a deeper, more intense cold than ice, while the light radiating from it seemed hotter than any fire known on either the human or demon planes.

Curious about the orb, Kurounue placed it in his pocket, taking one final look around the room before leaving, sighing deeply his eyes moist from thinking about Kurama.

Meanwhile back at Genkai's, Yusuke hung up the phone trembling as he turned to Genkai, who stood to his left worried and curious.

"Yusuke? What…?"

"It's Keiko, there was an accident…she's…." Yusuke stammered, tears filling up in his eyes, his limbs trembling as he dropped to his knees, shocked, angry and utterly upset from the phone call. "She's…dead…."

"…no…." Genkai gasped, staring at Yusuke as he spoke those words with tears in his eyes, refusing to believe it was true.


	3. Tragedy Again

Sitting beside the hospital bed, his eyes blank and red from crying, Yusuke stared at the floor, numb and forlorn, barely noticing the other people in the room. All he could think about was Keiko lying on the hospital bed next to him—dead, that wasn't supposed to be the way things turned out. Today was supposed to be special, Yusuke had planned to present Keiko with an engagement ring today at the welcome home party, but now…now he had no chance to either show or tell her how he felt. It just wasn't fair.

"Yusuke, will you be all right? They're going to move her body soon." A voice to his left spoke softly, Genkai's, but Yusuke refused to either look at her or respond, preferring, like Hiei had been with Kurama's death, to be alone in his mourning. "Yusuke, if there's anything you need…."

"The only thing I need is the identity of that driver so I can kill him." Yusuke seethed through clenched teeth, still refusing to look up.

"Her. The driver of the car that hit Keiko was a female. But she is unconscious now, she's sustained damage from the accident herself and…."

"I don't care; I'll still kill her for what she did to Keiko."

"But Yusuke…."

"She ran the fucking red lights, four of them! She obviously didn't care who got hurt, and she hurt more than Keiko when she crashed into that bus. She needs to pay." Yusuke steamed, finally looking at Genkai, hatred in his eyes, along with pain, intense pain that dug into his heart and soul.

"I'm not saying the driver shouldn't face the consequences of her actions, but Yusuke, she's pregnant. Going into her third month by what the doctors say. It's a miracle she didn't lose the baby in the crash." Genkai replied staring Yusuke in the eye, knowing that his anger wouldn't be great enough to hurt an innocent life, but she still held back on telling him the identity of the driver. That bit of information had shocked Genkai herself, and she paled when she first heard the name of the young woman: it was Akiko Kamigawa, the girl Kurama had broken up with before he met Hinansho.

"But Genkai…what is it? You're hiding something about the girl; I can see it in your eyes. Tell me, whatever it is." Yusuke demanded studying Genkai with narrowed eyes, his sadness giving way to anger for not being told everything. "Who…what's the driver's name?"

"Ah…." Genkai stared at Yusuke surprised that he had figured out she knew the driver's identity. "Um…."

"I know you know, so tell me!"

"…." Genkai stared at Yusuke thinking silently and then answered. "Akiko Kamigawa."

"Huh? A…kiko…? Wasn't that the name of Kurama's ex?"

"Yes…it's the same Akiko, and she's going on her third month of pregnancy, Yusuke…." However Yusuke stood up ignoring Genkai's words, anger printed on his face and in his heart.

"That bitch…I'll…."

"Yusuke! Listen to what I'm saying. Akiko is going on her ninth week of pregnancy."

"So, what does that have to do with anything?" Yusuke demanded, but soon realized it was significant somehow by how much emphasis Genkai put on that information.

"Akiko and Kurama broke up seven weeks ago." Genkai replied waiting for Yusuke to figure out what that bit of information meant, nodding when she saw the realization dawn on Yusuke's face.

"Seven…? That…the child…it's Kurama's?" Yusuke gasped his hate and anger giving way to shock, which in turn gave way to suspicion. "But she cheated on him…it might not be his…."

"That may be true, but unlikely since the child is without a doubt part demon." Koenma spoke walking into the room and standing between Yusuke and Genkai while both of them stared surprised at him.

"How do you know if the child's…?"

"The child's own energy is sustaining Akiko—and it is demonic energy." Koenma replied studying Yusuke's and Genkai's reactions.

"So the child is Kurama's." Yusuke muttered sitting back down, sighing unable to decide whether to be angry or ecstatic about the news. "I guess that is good news."

Meanwhile, in the mountain forest surrounding Genkai's temple, sitting against a tree, wanting to sleep but trembling for fear of what sort of dreams would result, Hiei stared up at the trees blotting out the sky, causing shadows to fall upon him, the fox cub nuzzling against his chest. Reassured by the warm bundle on his lap, the fire-demon finally fell asleep, fretting silently as horrid dreams flashed through his mind as soon as his eyes closed.

No longer nuzzling against Hiei, the fox cub stared into the fire-demon's face, an odd gleam in his eyes as he watched the demon struggle with his nightmares; this gleam was hard to describe, no words could explain what emotion they held—a mixture of feelings glowed in its eyes, dimmed by the constant struggles by the fox cub to keep them in check.

Whatever emotion gleamed from the fox cub's eyes disappeared a second later when something from behind the trees stirred from the shadows glowing an oddly dim, white light, its form distorted like a T.V without good reception, stepping close enough for Ku-chan to see, but far enough so Hiei wouldn't notice.

"Quit deceiving everybody." The glowing figure spoke, harsh but cool, a yellowish gleam coming from where its eyes would be, great dislike vibrating in its voice. "Especially Hiei."

Listening intently to the glowing figure, its eyes growing dark and stoic as it glared its anger at the figure, bristling as the figure stepped closer. Continuing to stare silently at the slowly approaching being, the fox cub climbed up to the sleeping Hiei's shoulders, placing his forelegs on Hiei's shoulders to balance himself as he stood on his back legs, nuzzling his nose against the fire-demon's neck, as Hiei continued to shudder from nightmares in his sleep.

Seeing this, the approaching figure stopped, anger and fear seeming to radiate from its entire structure, though it appeared powerless to express its emotion any other way. Calming down after a few moments the glowing figure continued to glare at the fox cub, betraying no thought or emotion on his countenance. Silence ticked by for a few seconds, with movement from neither the cub nor the figure, both holding their stances, keeping their attentions on the other.

Suddenly, to the right of the fox cub, a vine shot out from the grass aimed for the cub, quick as lightning and as silent. However, seeing the movement out of the corner of his eye, Ku-chan dodged the strike and snarled, rushing toward the glowing figure angrily. This snarl along with the sudden movement of the cub awoke Hiei, putting him on guard even before the surprise wore off—he quickly saw where the fox cub stared at and turned his attention to that direction bracing for an attack.

Before any of the three could make a move, Karai appeared and lunged at the glowing being, chasing him away and then he turned to look at a surprised Hiei.

Unable to think of what to say, the fire-demon turned away, picking up the fox cub and cradling it in his arms, trying to calm down his racing heart.( Oh, he couldn't wait for his heart to turn back into a demon one—he hated feeling the strangeness of a heartbeat, it shocked him the first time he felt his heart pounding wildly, he thought something was terribly wrong until Genkai explained to him how human hearts beat faster after any strenuous activity or when they were worked up emotionally. Hiei figured his being shocked counted as being 'worked up.')

"Are you okay?" Karai asked, breaking the silence, trying to catch the fire-demon's eye, hoping that Hiei wouldn't yell at him to go away. "Are you both all right?"

"We're fine. I'm just trying to stop this stupid human heart from racing, but your annoying questioning riles it back up." Hiei seethed silencing the concerned Karai who remained still until Hiei looked at him. "What are you waiting around for? A thank you?"

"No, just making sure whatever attacked you doesn't return." Karai lied coolly—he hadn't necessarily hoped for a thank you, all he wanted was for Hiei to forgive him for his stupidity, but he guessed a miracle took more than one day to work.

"Hn. I can take care of myself; I have my Dragon of the Darkness Flame technique restored."

"Hm, do you know how much stress using an attack like that would put on your human heart? A human's heart is basically their lifeline, as soon as the heart goes the human goes."

"I'm not human."

"But you still have human organs; that makes you susceptible to the same limitations. I overheard Genkai yelling at you the other day for using your demonic speed with that body of yours—you almost killed yourself from hypertension, from what I overheard."

"Hn. Go away." Hiei replied, turning red from anger and embarrassment from having his demon abilities, but being unable to use them, turning even redder after realizing how easily his skin did so. 'Why is blushing for humans so hard to control! Hiei seethed in his mind, finding even more things wrong with having the faults of a human body.

"Besides, all anyone needs to do to sneak up on you is to lower their energy to near the bare minimum—your Jagan hasn't returned so…."

"Just shut the fuck up and go away!" Hiei yelled, his heart racing again from anger and frustration at being unable to do more to get Karai away from him. The fire-demon was having enough trouble dealing with his limitations, and struggling against the temptation to use his powers even though they'd be fatal in his current form, without having that idiot Karai rubbing it in.

Though, of course Karai only made a deal about it to protect him, unlike that complete idiot Kuwabara—that stupid human got on Hiei's nerves the last time he saw him by noticing and bringing up every single weakness the fire-demon had, thinking it amusing to do so (Yusuke and Genkai then tried explaining to Hiei that Kuwabara meant what he said only as a jest—but Hiei refused to see anything funny about what Kuwabara did—it was all idiotic and cruel. He especially wouldn't forget the time when Kuwabara slipped and made an ill timed joke about Kurama and the fire-demon liking each other—nor would he forgive, as soon as he regained his human body fully Hiei was going to kill Kuwabara.) Narrowing his eyes, Hiei flinched in surprise noticing that Karai was still standing there, staring at him curious, but patient.

"What are you still doing here?"

"I'm going to stay with you until you get to Genkai's, even if you don't get attacked again, you might make yourself sick from lack of sleep—these ten minutes naps of yours are just not healthy for your human organs."

"Five. They're five minute naps." Hiei corrected, smirking at Karai's surprised reaction from his smartass remark, holding back a yawn and trying to keep his eyes open, to no avail.

With Hiei asleep Karai was able to carry him to Genkai's and place him on a futon in an empty bedroom in the silent house, keeping the fox cub in his arms even though it struggled to get to the sleeping fire-demon.

"No, Ku-chan, Hiei desperately needs rest, and any movement from you might wake him up." Karai cooed, sitting down on the porch of the temple, holding the struggling fox cub in his arms. After a few silent minutes enduring the bites and struggles of Ku-chan, Karai growled at the fox cub. "What's wrong with you? I'm here to protect Hiei, so why the fuss?" wincing with sudden pain from the fox cub biting his side, Karai let go of the cub who ran inside the temple just as Koenma and Genkai showed up.

"What are you doing here, Karai?" Koenma asked puzzled that the demon would keep returning to where he was unwanted.

"Something attempted to attack Hiei in the forest—I stopped it and brought the fire-demon back here to rest." Karai replied, still wincing from the throbbing on his side. "In case you haven't realized it, Hiei hasn't been sleeping well, and I thought I'd entertain Ku-chan a while so Hiei could get an uninterrupted rest. Needless to say, it didn't work."

"…."


	4. Faint Repentance

Two hours later, after Hiei had awoken and fallen back asleep for the fifth time, Genkai looked at the cub curiously, as Karai stared at it as well eyebrows raised.

"I'm telling you, there's something about that cub that sparks Hiei's nightmares. He sleeps fine until Ku-chan bothers him; maybe its presence unconsciously reminds him of…of that time." Karai muttered, seeing Genkai pick up Ku-chan who struggled against the old woman.

"I don't have the patience for this." Genkai muttered, walking toward the counter and taking out a bottle of pills, forcing one into Ku-chan's mouth. As soon as it was swallowed the fox cub's eyes closed, sleep consuming it. "That'll keep him out for at least six hours. Hopefully Hiei does sleep peacefully during that time."

"I say there's something strange about that cub, he seems to not want Hiei out of his sight, like he's possessive." Karai mumbled, staring at the fox cub darkly, suspicious of it.

"You're just angry, because he bit you, though how a young cub like Ku-chan could penetrate a demon's skin is beyond belief." Genkai replied, staring at Karai's bandaged side, a little annoyed that the demon refused to put his shirt back on—though she guessed he was annoyed at her refusal to heal him. (She may not be openly hostile, but she still had trouble forgetting and forgiving Karai for his stupidity and what it caused).

"I'm not just angry—there's something suspicious about that cub, of all the places he could've bit me he bit me on that scar—perfectly, he didn't hurt any of the surrounding skin, just the scarred skin."

"What's so amazing about that? You have plenty of scars all over your sides—what's so special about that scar?"

"It's the scar my br…my…oh, never mind."

"That's enough about talk about scars and foxes—we have another situation to deal with." Koenma butted in, relieved when neither Genkai nor Karai interrupted. "It's fortunate we found you, Karai, I need you to revive someone for me."

"What? Who?"

"Keiko Yukimura. I would do it myself, but ever since I allowed Yusuke to revive as a demon, disobeying an order from my father, I haven't been able to execute my power freely in Spirit World."

"Huh? But your father gave you permission to return to Spirit World and resume your duties…." Genkai spoke up surprised.

"That's all he's given me permission to do—I don't have back all the privileges of being Spirit World prince; which was another of the countless reasons we couldn't revive Kurama."

"So your father still hasn't forgiven you for disobeying his order? Sheesh…."

"So…who's this Keiko? I'm assuming she's human since you know I can't revive a demon right now." Karai spoke up, still keeping an eye on Ku-chan.

"Yusuke's girlfriend—and fiancée, though technically he hasn't given her the ring yet."

"…okay, I'll heal this girl. Just tell me where she is."

Meanwhile, in the room where Hiei lay sleeping, no longer shuddering from nightmares, a slightly bright white light appeared similar to the one surrounding the figure in the forest. Hovering above the sleeping fire-demon, this ball of white light morphed into a more humanoid form, floating in the air in a sitting position, staring at Hiei's face as the fire-demon slept.

Long strands of silver blond hair fell passed the glowing figure's broad, smooth skinned shoulders, the white light dimming the pale color of its form making it almost impossible to distinguish anything else from the light. After a few moments of hesitation, the being moved its right arm to the fire-demon's cheek, running its fingers delicately along Hiei's cheek, and then pulled away, wonder written in his eyes—yellow eyes filled with questions and passion, contrasting with the indeterminate color of the rest of its form.

"Want…Kurama…want my fox…." Hiei mumbled, still asleep turning away from the glowing being as it inched its slender pale hand back to the fire-demon's cheek.

"Heh, you prefer him." The glowing figure mumbled, chuckling quietly, changing to a kneeling position beside the fire-demon, watching him sleep.

While the figure knelt next to Hiei, watching him sleep, Koenma brought Karai to where Keiko was, at Yusuke's apartment, lying on a fluffy bed with Yusuke sitting on a chair next to it. Kuwabara also stood in the room, grief and anger etched on his face. Looking up when Koenma entered, Yusuke blinked away the moisture in his eyes until they were clear enough to see the person with Koenma thoroughly.

"What is he doing here?" Yusuke demanded of Koenma, eyeing Karai with anger and suspicion.

"He's here to revive Keiko." Koenma replied, pausing for a moment before continuing. "I haven't gotten the privilege back to revive anyone I wish to, so Karai's the only chance we got to revive Keiko."

"Urr…are you sure he can revive a human or is he just going to back out and say he can't?"

"I can and will revive Keiko whether or not you trust me to do so." Karai replied, ignoring Yusuke afterwards, stepping beside the bed and placing his left hand on her neck. A golden aura of energy radiated from his hand enveloping Keiko's body completely. Closing his eyes in concentration, Karai mumbled an unintelligible chant, after which the golden aura glowed brighter and clearer. Continuing to concentrate, Karai ignored the growing throb from his side, determined to succeed in reviving the girl no matter what it did to him. After about five minutes Karai stopped mumbling the chant, moving his hand away from Keiko and sitting back, finished.

"Now all we have to do is wait for her soul to enter her body." Karai spoke, trying not to grimace in pain as the pain from his side pulsated from the wound, spreading throughout his body; he failed, but nobody noticed as they were all waiting for the brown haired girl to revive completely, sighing with relief when she stirred, sitting up on the bed.

"Keiko…." Yusuke whispered, wrapping his arms around her, tears of relief and happiness streaming down his face.

"Yusuke…." Keiko responded by putting her arms around Yusuke holding him close to her.

While Yusuke's, Koenma's, and Kuwabara's attentions were on Keiko, Karai left, clutching the wound on his side, determined not to ruin the happy occasion with his problems. Of course, he already expected to feel weak after reviving the girl—he hadn't recovered enough energy to be unscathed after using his powers, something he failed to mention to Koenma, but Karai figured it didn't matter what happened to him, after all he was the reason Kurama was dead. All he wanted was to repent for his stupidity of reviving Karasu—and if he got wounded beyond measure, so be it.

"I'd deserve it anyway." Karai mumbled walking away from the apartment, limping down the sidewalk still clutching him side.

Meanwhile back at Genkai's, in the room where Hiei slept, the glowing figure gazed at the fire-demon once more, then left, fading into the darkness just as Genkai entered the room to check on Hiei. Satisfied that the fire-demon still slept undisturbed by any nightmare, Genkai covered Hiei with a pale hued blanket, chuckling as the sleeping fire-demon pulled it up to his chin and then turned onto his other side, facing away from Genkai.

Remaining quiet in the room, observing Hiei thoughtfully, Genkai wondered if the fox cub did have something to do with the fire-demon's nightmares, ending her curious observations when a knock at the door caught her attention. Deciding not to yell for the visitor to come in, in case it woke up Hiei, Genkai walked to the sliding door to greet the guest and tell him or her to remain quiet if they decided to stay.

"Wha…Hinansho? What are you doing here so late?" Genkai asked, staring at the black haired green eyed boy who appeared frazzled and shocked about something.

"Is it true?"

"Is what true?"

"That Akiko caused an accident and Miss Yukimura's…."

"Yes, it's true." Genkai replied, not saying anything more until she saw how the boy paled at her words. "Everything will be okay though, Karai has agreed to revive Keiko and Akiko's in good condition according to the doctors."

"But…I can't believe…." Kurounue mumbled, worry and guilt etched on his face, almost forgetting to remove his shoes before entering, babbling out everything about meeting Akiko, what he said to her, and about how the strange girl tried to get him to go after Akiko. Sitting down on a chair in the kitchen, trembling as he finished telling the story to a silent Genkai, Kurounue wrung his hands nervously. "I could've prevented this…I could…I'm such as idiot…a stubborn asshole…."

"…so you're really Kurounue?" Was all Genkai answered, still shocked herself at what Kurounue confessed.

"Yes."

"And you never told Kurama? Even after finding out who he was?"

"No, I didn't. I can't believe how stupid I've been…." Kurounue mumbled tears forming in his eyes, threatening to fall. "To think I nearly caused the death of a child who could be Kurama's, I…."

"It most likely is Kurama's. It's half-demon, and is the only reason Akiko is still alive—she's being sustained by its energy."

"What? No way, I can't…is the child okay? Will Akiko and the child survive? Will the child's energy be enough to sustain them both?" Kurounue bombarded Genkai with questions, not giving the woman time to answer, his face showing pained guilt and worry. Hushing Kurounue with a single glare, Genkai sighed, thinking about her answer before responding.

"The child is okay as of now, and as I said Akiko is all right as well, however until Akiko regains consciousness, the chance either the child or mother will survive is slim. The child is only half demon and there are limits to how long it can sustain itself without its mother's energy." Genkai replied gravely, closing her eyes in silence while waiting for the news to sink into Kurounue.

"So…they both will die? But…but couldn't you've gotten Karai to heal Akiko instead? She's carrying Kurama's child! Surely saving the life of a child is more important than…."

"Try telling that to Yusuke. Besides, only Koenma, myself, and now you know of what danger the child is in." Genkai replied turning away from Kurounue, unable to look him in the eye.

"So you're just going to pick and choose who lives and who dies? That's fucked up, that's…."

"It wouldn't have made a difference, you see, Kurounue, Akiko purposely drove that car into the bus, she's…she wanted to kill herself and her child." Genkai sighed then turned back to Kurounue. "Her body right now is physically okay, but she refuses to awake—she's willing herself to die."

"But…but why?" Kurounue stammered, eyes moist and wide in shock, guilt eating progressively at his heart.

"She must fear that the child isn't Kurama's and she refuses to live with that guilt."

"But it's half demon so it must be Kurama's! Go tell her that!"

"I did, she was awake at the time, but as soon as she heard what I said, she blanched, closed her eyes and refused to respond. That's why I doubt that the child is Kurama's—I told her the truth about Kurama being a demon, she accepted that, but refused to be convinced that the child is Kurama's."

"But she told me the only other one who could be the father was a married man, and I doubt any demon would really get married."

"She could've lied. She's not exactly the most moral person, the only thing that shocks me is how she could know that one of the people she cheated on Kurama with was a demon—she couldn't sense that Kurama was one, so I'm guessing whoever the guy was, he told her what he was."

"But…but why? No demon I know who wants to have sex with a human would admit to that human what they are—it usually results in that human struggling against the demon, so the demon would either have to give up or force the human into it."

"Exactly."


	5. Thunder Rolls

Meanwhile listening silently to Genkai's and Kurounue's conversation, an awakened Hiei trembled, eyes wide, standing right outside the shut kitchen door. He couldn't believe it, the bitch who cheated on Kurama was pregnant with a child that could be the fox's, but was selfishly trying to kill herself and her child, all because she didn't believe it was Kurama's—the very thought angered the fire-demon. How could she know the child wasn't Kurama's? She'd been his lover at that time, so that very slim chance should be enough for her—unless she knew something that she refused to tell.

Determined to find this Akiko, Hiei left Genkai's, feeling well rested after his nap—a dreamless nap that lasted barely an hour, but it was better than how he'd been sleeping. It annoyed him that Ku-chan hadn't been with him, but the fox cub was sleeping soundly in the living room and Hiei hadn't the heart to wake him—after all he knew how it felt to be sleep deprived, and he was certain Ku-chan hadn't been getting much sleep either.

So Hiei left Genkai's and headed toward the city, checking the urge to use his demon speed the best he could, however as he thought more about Akiko and the child, the more compelled he became to throw caution to the wind and use his demon powers regardless of the risk. Finally, forgetting all caution, Hiei ran to the city at top speed, ignoring how fast his heart raced, and how his lungs burned—all he wanted was to get to Akiko and make her save herself and the child.

While the fire-demon raced to the city, Karai, sitting against the outside wall of a building, shrouded in the darkness of an alleyway, winced in pain and fear as he stared at the now bandageless wound on his side. Inflamed red skin, pulsating with pain, surrounded the teeth marks, little trickles of blood dripping from each puncture. The strain of reviving Keiko must've slowed down his body's ability to heal, he'd expected that to happen, but Karai hadn't expected the fox cub's bite to be so severe—he felt what remained of his energy depleting after every throb. Something was definitely wrong.

Struggling to stand up, Karai barely got an inch off the ground before sensing a flash of familiar aura—paling in recognition of the aura. Freezing in his spot, Karai focused on finding out from where the energy signal originated—hoping that he had misread whose it was.

Gasping as another flash of the aura signal came to his attention and wincing as another painful throb filled his body at that same moment, Karai grew terrified, trembling where he sat.

"No…it can't be…it just can't…." Karai whimpered, gasping aloud again when he heard the voice call to him through his thoughts.

'Oh? Can't it? Hah! You were always so naïve, brother. Did you truly think I would be destroyed so easily? Hah!' The harsh, cruel voice spoke soundlessly in Karai's mind, laughing haughtily at the demon.

"But…how could…?" Karai whimpered feeling more intense pain throbbing from the wound on his side, his power fading with each throb.

Fear filled his eye as he remembered about what the bite mark on his side meant—the mark his brother had given him after overpowering him, degrading him to the level of a slave—vilely using Karai and destroying the trust the demon had for his brother. Karasu had forced himself upon Karai, taking advantage of everyone of the auburn eyed, red-haired demon's weaknesses—binding Karai's right arm in a tight shackle, taking advantage of how helpless that made him—Karai's right arm was his one and only physical weakness, even the slightest touch to his right arm sent throbs of immobilizing pain through his entire body.

Only Karai himself could touch his right arm without sending pain throughout his body—though a brace rich with spirit energy did allow him to use that arm and have it touched without any pain, it also hindered use of any of his powers, weakening him to a level near that of a human. His brother Karasu had taken advantage of this physical weakness, immobilizing Karai as he had his way with the helpless demon, ignoring Karai's disgusted pleads at being degraded to the position of a whore by his own brother.

Flashback:

_"Brother…don't you…please stop…don't…." Karai whimpered, gasping and wincing from the constant waves of pain from his right arm, trying desperately to struggle against his brother's lust, but unable to due to his body's temporary paralysis._

_"Heh, stop? Don't? Make up your mind, dear brother." Karasu smirked, his eyes glistening with lust and sadism—oh how he loved toying with Karai._

_"You know what I mean, you twisted, sadistic bastard!" Karai shouted hating his brother, hating the fact that he had foolishly trusted Karasu not to hurt him, cursing himself that he'd been foolish enough to believe something like family mattered to the vile demon._

_"Maybe I'll let you go, dear brother, but that means I get Hinansho…." Karasu whispered, enjoying watching the powerless demon struggle beneath him, loving how helpless Karai was in his hate and fear._

_"AH! How do you know about Hinansho!" Karai gasped horrified that Karasu knew of his beloved lover, fear for the human boy's safety causing him to tremble._

_"I have my ways—you've been his lover for over four years now, and I right?"_

_"I…you spied on us…!"_

_"Heh…I didn't have anything better to do after I died, but I knew before that that you had taken a human as a lover, heh." Karasu whispered, his eyes glaring hungrily at his brother, he'd been without a body for so long that it felt desirously wonderful to have someone so weak, yet so feisty to overpower—regardless that that person was his own brother. "I know your other secret as well…heh…the real Hinansho's been dead for over a year now—a suicide I do believe--am I right?"_

_"I…." Karai gulped, terrified that his brother had spied on him that long, horrified that the demon knew of what had happened, sickened that he was in Karasu's mercy._

_"Reviving someone without Spirit World permission is a felony in Spirit World law—especially if one revives a human body but fills it with a demon spirit."_

_"You know of Kurounue?"_

_"Hah! Now I do." Karasu grinned slyly staring even more intensely at Karai. "I can't believe you fell for that one, I knew the soul wasn't Hinansho's, but to think you'd be idiotic enough to admit to me that it was a demon's spirit…hah!" Karasu laughed enjoying how pale his brother went as Karai realized his error—if he hadn't blurted out Kurounue's name, he could've denied that it was a demon spirit he had revived—accidentally—into Hinansho's body (Reviving someone without permission wasn't as severe as reviving a demon spirit in a human body.)_

_"How did you know it wasn't Hinansho's spirit?" Karai asked, hoping that Karasu hadn't been ignorant of that, and had merely tricked him into revealing that info as well—Karai couldn't stand anymore laughter from his brother for being so stupid._

_"Because I'm the one who trapped him to prevent you from reviving him." Karasu confessed coolly, enjoying the anger in Karai's eyes as the demon took in his words._

_"You! You prevented me from reviving him? How could you!"_

_"Same as I could torment him into killing himself."_

_"Ah…you bastard! You! I'll kill you! I swear I will!" Karai seethed forcing his body to overcome the pain and struggle against Karasu, hating the black haired demon with his whole demonic heart and soul, surprising his brother by being able to physically struggle against him._

_"You…you wouldn't dare kill the only one who can tell you where Hinansho's soul is, would you?" Karasu asked, calmly, releasing his hold on Karai—knowing perfectly well that Karai's feelings for his lover would prevent the demon from killing Karasu—as though the innocent demon actually could, Karai hadn't killed anyone since they were born. "Nor would you kill someone who could so easily kill the fake Hinansho as well, would you?"_

_"If you're dead you can't harm anyone anymore."_

_"I beg to differ—if I'm dead I could easily torment him in his dreams like I did to the real Hinansho—steal his memories and remind him of everything horrible in his life, heh. Make him kill himself just to escape the torment."_

_"That's…you made Hinansho-chan relive his life in his dreams? Everything that happened to him?"_

_"Yes I did—every gruesome detail, the boy had so many repressed horrible memories—memories of his own guilt in his loved ones deaths."_

_"But…they died in a fire…it wasn't his fault!"_

_"That's where you're wrong, dear brother. Hinansho never told you of the abuse he suffered at the hands of his so called family? No…not sexual—physical and emotional only. But enough to get him to deliberately set fire to the house—he had hoped to die in the blaze as well, but I saved him, and he repressed every memory from that time, ignoring what he remembered until I unlocked those memories."_

_"But…you saved him? Why?"_

_"That, dear brother, is my secret." Karasu replied, holding Karai down again, studying the demon curiously. "You wouldn't want me to harm the fake Hinansho as well, would you?"_

_"No."_

_"Then teach me your spells, dear brother, teach me how to take any form I choose, like you can do."_

End Flashback

Karai gasped as those memories pulsed through his thoughts—he had agreed to teach Karasu that spell which allowed him to take any form he chose—falling victim to idiocy again when Karai failed to realize that Karasu meant to take Karai's form and drain his power. Karasu gave Karai that bite on his side the first time he overpowered the auburn eyed demon—it was a demon's love bite, but instead of being on his shoulder as the sign of a mate, it was on his side as the sign of a slave, forced to do whatever his master wanted.

Now it burned as it did other times when Karasu summoned him, tormenting him always until he answered his brother's summons—but it couldn't be possible, Karasu was dead, there was no way he could actually summon him. The mark had finally begun healing slowly—it had almost been completely healed until that fox-cub bit him, not it was….

"No…it couldn't be…." Karai gasped at the thought in his head, not wanting to believe it but realizing it was the only logical explanation. But if what he thought was the case, then Hiei was in danger—terrible danger.


	6. Surprise and Revelations

Nearly making it to the hospital, gasping wildly for breath, his limbs shaking, Hiei stopped running, his lungs burning, heart pounding, sweat cascading down his forehead—he couldn't move another inch, the use of his demonic powers ravaged his human body. Weak from overexertion, Hiei breathed deeply, trying to still his racing heart, he could feel the blood pumping hard through his veins—his heart he heard beating loudly in his ears, and he hoped desperately that both would slow down to normal.

Relaxing his nerves or at least trying to, Hiei stared around him struggling to make his eyes focus when they blurred, blinding him from view of his surroundings. Perspiration dripping from his forehead, soaking his hair and the bandana he wore out of habit, Hiei gasped feeling the first throb of pain in his chest, clutching at his shirt as more throbs of pounding pain engulfed his body—something was wrong desperately wrong.

Using his demonic powers must've overexerted his human body—the pounding of his heart engulfed him with pain, and his lungs burned with each ragged breath—it was as though he forced himself to breathe, something that should've been so natural for his human body now seemed like work. Head spinning from lack of sufficient air, Hiei would've gasped if he'd been able to when his lungs refused to fill with the oxygen his human body so desperately needed.

Struggling so hard to breathe, feeling the terror rise through him, Hiei grasped his hands to his throat as unconsciousness consumed him, blacking out the present.

Meanwhile Genkai and Kurounue searched for Hiei, having realized he's gone only a few minutes after he left, worry imprinted on their faces and in their eyes. Had the fire-demon overheard their conversation and decide to find Akiko? Certainly that would he really have gone to Akiko with only the slight chance that the child was Kurama's? Was he that desperate to have something that connected him with the late Kurama?

"He's not anywhere nearby." Kurounue called to Genkai after searching the nearby surroundings for Hiei, the fire-demon was no where around the temple. "I don't get it, he couldn't've gotten that far on his own, his body's human after all—it couldn't support any of his powers."

"…true, but…even though his body's not strong enough, he's still able to use his powers…." Genkai replied, realization of what Hiei had to have done filled her with anxiety—it would be exactly what the stubborn fire-demon would do. "He must've used his demonic speed, that's the only way he could've gotten so far so fast."

"But…the stress on his body…it could kill him!"

"I know, we need to find him quick, I'll contact Botan and tell her to inform everyone else. You go as fast as possible to the city—and if you see Yusuke or anybody tell them what's happened."

"Okay, I'll try to contact Karai; hopefully he's still with the others."

Ten minutes later, almost halfway to his destination, Kurounue cursed the human body he was in—if he had his original body he'd have been there by now, but he didn't, and if things weren't bad enough, he couldn't get in touch with Karai. Struggling hard to contact the auburn eyed demon through the demon's bond with Hinansho's body, Kurounue cursed his luck when Karai failed to respond—of all the times they needed him, Karai wasn't there, and Karai had wished to prove his trustworthiness to the Spirit Detective team. So why didn't he respond?

"C'mon, where are you Karai? We need your help." Kurounue whispered as he ran, worry in his eyes for both Hiei and Karai—could they both be in danger? Lost almost completely in thought, Kurounue barely saw the flash of red speed in front of him stopping as swiftly as it appeared. "Wha…Ku-chan?" Kurounue froze, gaping at the captivatingly red fox cub sitting in front of him eyeing Kurounue intensely. "You should still be asleep from that pill Genkai gave you…."

"Should yes, but he isn't." A rough voice spoke from behind Kurounue, startling him as he turned around, suddenly afraid. However the sight of the person behind him relieved Kurounue. "Karai, it's you, good. Hiei's missing we need you to help find him. We think he may've strained his body by using his demonic powers, can you help…Karai? What's wrong? You don't seem…." Kurounue spoke puzzled by the peculiar expression on Karai's face, his voice being cut off when the auburn eyed demon grabbed him by the throat in a steel-like grip.

Fear written in his eyes, Kurounue struggled against Karai, wondering desperately what had gotten into the demon. Anger whelming up through him, Kurounue struggled, pausing only when he caught the look in Karai's eye—sorrow. Intense despair shone in Karai's auburn eye, while he deliberately choked Kurounue, as though he wanted to stop himself but couldn't—as though he no longer had any control over his body.

"Karai…." Kurounue gasped, struggling against the demon's grip, his fear-filled eyes glancing every now and then as Karai's right arm hanging limply at the auburn eyed demon's side—looking for a chance to grab it—if Kurounue could just touch it then Karai would loosen his grip on Kurounue's neck. (Of course, if it wasn't the real Karai it wouldn't work, but at least he'd know that it wasn't). Waiting for his opportunity, Kurounue struggled silently against Karai, grabbing for the demon's arm as soon as he spotted an opening.

However, as he grabbed for Karai's unprotected right arm, Kurounue felt a stab of pain on his wrist as Ku-chan bit him, breaking through his skin easily, effortlessly, an odd gleam in his eyes.

"Ku-chan…what are…?" Kurounue managed to gasp before falling unconscious, his thoughts spinning with unanswered questions, fearing what those answers might be.

Meanwhile near the city hospital glowing with an intensely white light, strands of long silver blond hair falling past broad, pale shoulders, the being who'd visited Hiei at Genkai's, now searched around frantically for the fire-demon. Feeling that the fire-demon's life energy was fading, the glowing being searched more intensely, focusing its gleaming energy into a more visible form.

Standing around a height of six feet, silver white fox ears and tail, dressed in a flowing white robe, eyes glowing an intense yellow, Youko searched around for Hiei, struggling to sense the fire-demon's fading aura. Finding it, Youko rushed toward the aura signal, intent on his purpose until another fading aura caught his attention. Coming from the distance, about ten miles away, this new, familiar aura caught Youko's attention, distracting him from finding Hiei.

"Kurounue…!" Youko gasped recognizing the flashes of aura coming from outside the city as those of Kurounue's human body, realizing that the human body's life force was fading. "Grrr…damn….!" Youko cursed torn between finding Hiei and helping Kurounue—should he find and help the fire-demon whom his more human form had been lovers with or should he help Kurounue who had saved Youko at the expense of his own life? Realizing that he had only seconds to decide who to save (both would be dead if he waited much longer) Youko stared toward where he had been going, mumbled something incomprehensible and then turned away, heading toward the place where Kurounue was, abandoning his search for the fire-demon.

Elsewhere, at the city hospital, Akiko lay unconscious on the uncomfortable bed in the white walled room, still willing herself to die as images of her past flashed through her mind. She hadn't meant to cheat on Shuuichi, and for most of the four months she'd been his girlfriend she'd been faithful—the idea to cheat on Shuuichi never crossed her mind, and never would've if she hadn't met that man.

That man, who actually wasn't that tall, and looked more like a short teen boy, had claimed to be a demon, proving what he was by showing Akiko some of his powers. Fearing what would happen to her if she resisted the demon, Akiko had let him do what he wished, feeling relieved and guilty after he left having finished having his way with her, leaving her unhurt in any other way.

Her encounter with that demon scarred Akiko, and she focused her time and energy on forgetting that it had ever happened, refusing to say anything to Shuuichi about the rape out of fear of him being angry that she hadn't resisted. Keeping such a secret from Shuuichi had tormented Akiko, making her feel as though she betrayed him—but she couldn't admit what had happened to her to Shuuichi, he had already been through enough, and she didn't want to do anything to upset him. Fearing what Shuuichi would do, afraid that he might go through another suicidal depression, Akiko kept silent, keeping her guilt and shame hidden inside of her heart, tucked snugly into the dark confines of her mind.

Yes, that guilt was what caused her to get duped by another demon she met—though this one used trickery and a well crafted disguise to get her. How was she to know that some demons could disguise themselves into any form they chose? How was she to know that the person who took Shuuichi's physical form and had intercourse with her was actually a demon in disguise? That day, nine weeks ago, was the worst day of her life—and was the sole reason why she and Shuuichi broke up. That demon had threatened to kill Shuuichi unless she did what he wished.

Flashback:

_Akiko stared, pale, eyes wide, as the man in front of her transformed before her eyes, smirking slyly, sadistically at her naked form. Sickened at the sight of the stranger, Akiko felt tears form in her eyes, and had almost screamed for help before the man in front of her spoke, harsh and cruel._

_"Scream, and I swear I'll kill that lover boy of yours; Shuuichi."_

_"AH! Please don't hurt Shu-chan, I'll do anything." Akiko pleaded, shivering with fear, knowing in her gut that this man could succeed in his threat, for all she knew he could already have Shuuichi as a hostage._

_"Be quiet." The man replied, smirking at how quickly Akiko complied, his stony eyes gleaming sadistically at the human girl. Loving how much control he had over Akiko, the man moved closer to the human girl, his long black hair swaying slightly as he moved, placing his strong hands on the girl's bosom freezing her struggles with just a look._

_"Please don't…."_

_"I told you to be quiet, heh." The stony eyed demon growled, chuckling at the shiver of terror that consumed Akiko at his words, loving the human girl's struggles to remain still as he dug one of his nails into the skin of the girl's side, eyeing the blood hungrily._

_Tears streaming down her pale face, her body trembling from fear for herself and Shuuichi, Akiko let the black haired, stony eyed demon do what he wished to her, enduring his rough lust with as few whimpers as possible, holding back her cries even when the demon scratched and bit her, ravaging her body until she loss consciousness._

_When she awoke he was still there, lying on top of her, biting and scratching her hungrily barely noticing whether Akiko was awake or not, enraptured completely by lust._

_"Ah…." The demon moaned, moving off of Akiko, breathing heavily lying next to her on the bed, eyeing Akiko as she turned away looking at what time it was on the bedside clock. "Surprised? Heh…."_

_"…I…eight hours…you've…." Akiko stammered, feeling the tired soreness of her body from the demon's lust, wondering how it was possible of him to have lasted that long and how he could stand raping someone who had been unconscious._

_"I could've lasted longer, but I wish to keep you alive." The demon whispered in Akiko's ear, observing her body lustfully, but restraining himself from raping her again. "If you tell anyone about this, I'll kill Shuuichi, you got that?"_

_"Yes." Akiko whimpered shivering from fear as the demon stood up, dressing himself calmly as though nothing unusual had happened. "Who are you anyway?"_

_"…heh…Karasu." The black haired demon replied smirking. "You tell anyone about me, I'll kill you and that lover boy of yours." After that the demon, Karasu, left; leaving Akiko alone in the silent room._

End Flashback

Akiko shuddered unconsciously, remembering the demon who called himself Karasu, and the fear that had whelmed through her when she encountered him again. It had been around two weeks after her first encounter with him that Karasu showed up at hers and Shuuichi's apartment again when Shuuichi was meeting with friends at Genkai's—this time intent on having Akiko obey all his orders without question.

Flashback:

_"You!" Akiko gasped staring at Karasu who stood in her doorway angry and impatient at her refusing to move out of the doorway. "Stay away from me."_

_"You'll let me in now, I order you to." Karasu seethed and then smirked as Akiko struggled against letting him in, but the attempt was futile—he had bitten Akiko during his first encounter with the human girl, making her his slave so she had to do whatever he commanded her to do. Stepping through the doorway after Akiko stepped back from it, Karasu transformed into the form of a human Akiko never saw before, grabbing a hold of her and whispering in her ear. "You'll do what I say, got that? You will not say anything about my true identity, now or ever—and you will do everything exactly how I tell you to do it, got that?"_

_"Yes…." Akiko whimpered, unable to struggle at all due to some power Karasu had over her, it seemed as though her body obeyed his will instead of her own. And so, Akiko did everything Karasu told her to, even after Shuuichi came home and caught her with the disguised demon, angry from the feeling of betrayal he felt, threatening to kill the disguised Karasu—Akiko wanted him to but Karasu commanded her nonverbally to stop Shuuichi, ordering her to say exactly what he had told her to. That wretched demon Karasu had ordered her to break up with Shuuichi, forcing her to drive away the only one she ever cared about, the one whom she worried the most about—and she could neither forgive Karasu nor herself for how badly she'd hurt Shuuichi with her words and actions._

End Flashback

Those memories pounding through her thoughts, Akiko cried silent tears as she felt the energy from her unborn child (she had heard the old woman Genkai muttering about how the unborn child was using its own energy to sustain itself and Akiko) filling up her body, almost consuming her. Odd, so far the unborn child had only barely used its energy, but now it seemed to overwhelm her as though the child was consciously aware of its surroundings and wished to take a more active stand on its survival. Lost in thought and memories for the time being, Akiko felt herself slip into deeper unconsciousness, blacking out even her memories.


	7. Temporary Reunion

_Trees towered around, tall grey oaks with wide, green leaves, shielding them from the cool refreshing rain that sprinkled from the semi cloudy sky. A cool, brief breeze blew past them, temporary ending the protection of the oak leaves and letting the rain sprinkle down upon their skin, soaking them briefly before the protection of the leaves was reinstated._

"_Hm…." The red haired, green eyed spirit-fox stared up at the sky wistfully, sitting next to the red eyed fire-demon who studied him curiously. "I love days like this after summer's intensely hot ones—it's refreshing, like I'm being revitalized. What about you, Hiei?"_

"_It doesn't make a difference to me." Hiei muttered looking away briefly while Kurama glanced at him, noticing that the fox-demon's calm, tranquil expression waver for just a second to one bordering on sadness._

"_Does anything make a difference to you?" Kurama asked calmly, with a barely noticeable undertone of anxiety and bitterness, which a stranger wouldn't be able to catch. Unnerved a little by Kurama's hidden sensitivity—the fox-demon was affected by everything the fire-demon did, though he tried so desperately to conceal that fact—Hiei glanced swift and briefly at Kurama, thinking quick but deeply about what he should say._

_Of course Hiei wasn't positive he knew what to say—that is, he didn't know what Kurama wanted him to say exactly, though he knew Kurama wanted to hear the truth—the fox-demon would easily detect any falsity in the fire-demon's words and get upset just the same. So it must be the truth that he should say._

"_No, Fox, nothing makes any difference." Hiei replied looking away as Kurama drew in a breath and then stared back at the cloudy sky avoiding the fire-demon's eye for a minute. Somehow Hiei felt as though he said something wrong, but he'd only said the truth—all his life he constantly suppressed all emotion that would attach him to anything else—you couldn't get the fire-demon not care about anything. 'What will be will be,' that aphorism suited Hiei just fine—it didn't matter what without having any affect on the fire-demon. "Nothing matters, Fox."_

"_Oh." The redhead replied, turning back to Hiei with a smile that seemed factitious, shallow. "I guess that topic is opened to discussion, it's up to every individual to decide what matters; it's just a reflection of one's character."_

"_Hn."_

"_I guess I should head back to Genkai's, Yusuke found out today's her birthday and is planning on throwing her a party. If you want you can join us, Hiei."_

"_Hn." Hiei shook his head, then walked away—he didn't want to hang out at Genkai's, all he wanted was to stay with Kurama, but if he couldn't he guessed it didn't really matter._

"_Hiei…." Kurama muttered as the fire-demon walked away, his voice fading as darkness shrouded the surroundings and a new voice called out._

"Hey! Hey, wake up!" The new voice spoke louder and clearer than the previous one, shaking away the images of Kurama and the forest.

Feeling languid and tired as though zapped of all his energy Hiei lifted his heavy eyelids slowly, barely taking in the blurry shape he saw. Unable to even blink due to lack of energy, Hiei merely waited for the blurriness of his vision to go away, vaguely aware of someone staring at him as the fire-demon slowly regained complete consciousness. As his eyes focused and more feeling and strength reached his limbs, Hiei breathed deeply trying hard to recall where he was and what happened to him.

Ah, yes, he had been going to find that Akiko bitch and demand her to save herself long enough for the child to be born, but hadn't reached her before he collapsed—stupid, he didn't even know where he was now, come to think of it he hadn't even known how to get to the hospital when he set out to find Akiko. His emotion had gotten the best of him, like a stupid human.

_Hn, I'm starting to act like those wretched creatures, stupid_. Hiei narrowed his eyes, and then recalled the dream he had just awoken from—it wasn't a dream, it was a memory—a true memory unlike the nightmares he'd been having. During those nightmares he'd been Karasu's complete slave and couldn't escape no matter how hard he tried, and if he attacked the nightmare's Karasu changed into Ku-chan, and Hiei awoke abruptly, horrified by those dreams. Hiei was completely powerless in those dreams—so it was refreshing to have a different dream.

Though, recalling that memory of him and Kurama, Hiei felt a gnawing guilt plague him, displacing all pleasure he'd felt from that recollection. His fox had been so saddened by the fire-demon's answer, not surprised but disappointed—no it was more like Kurama's hopes had been banished and broken by Hiei's answer. At the time, due to how distant and lacking in so-called people skills, Hiei couldn't figure out why his honest answer affected his fox so—he Kurama wanted the complete truth. Of course, he must've wanted to hear the truth, but was hoping the truth was what he wanted it to be—a habit Kurama must've received from living with humans, to fill yourself with hope and expectation even though it left you no protection against disappointment.

_Stupid fox, I didn't mean exactly that nothing matters—I meant that it's better to not expect anything; you can't be disappointed that way. Just deal with each thing as it happens, expect nothing and accept everything you can't change—that's what I meant._ Hiei thought silently tears forming in his eyes as he realized just now why Kurama felt so hurt by the fire-demon's answer that day—the fox hadn't wanted to know what Hiei felt about other things, Kurama had wanted to know what the fire-demon thought of him. _How could I have been so stupid? And how could you have honestly thought I didn't care for you? If I didn't care for you, I wouldn't've accepted your bite—you could've called to me that way. Why didn't you?_ Hiei asked in his thoughts, remembering how hurt he'd been when Kurama never use the demon bond bite to summon Hiei, just because he had held back on his bite to the fox didn't mean Kurama couldn't summon him with the bond. The fox had completed the bond and Hiei would've had to respond to any summon from Kurama, and though the fire-demon was reluctant to accept such a connection, Hiei felt distressfully hurt that Kurama hadn't summoned him from the Demon Realm. The stupid fox hadn't even used that power to summon Hiei when he needed the fire-demon most—during those depressions of his—but why not?

_Had you wanted me to come to you on my own? Was that why you didn't summon me before you succumbed to that suicidal depression? We both fucked up then. Stupid fox, I wanted you to come to me on your own, that's why I held back on my bite—I didn't want the power to force you to come to me. I wanted you to do so, on your own. We were both idiots._

"I guess we were." A voice broke through Hiei's thoughts and the fire-demon bolted upright, surprised at the interruption—he had forgotten anyone else was with him, assuming that the figure he'd seen through his blurry vision wasn't there since he or she hadn't spoken anymore. "We were idiots, weren't we?"

"…wha…? Who…?" Hiei stammered, staring incredulously at the long blond haired human in front of him, female, eyes blue, skin overly pale—a stranger to him, though he thought he'd seen her before somewhere. This human seemed to have read his thoughts—impossible, no human could do such a thing—and very few demons could either, Hiei's Jagan offered a basic protection against mind readers, so how could this human know what he had thought? He hadn't spoken aloud, had he?

"No, you didn't."

"Wha…?" Hiei gasped, and then stood up on guard as he stared at the human, bristling and narrowing his eyes. "You can't be a normal human."

"Yes and no, this is a normal human body."

"Uh!" Hiei stepped back and observed the human girl more closely, this time taking in how blank her eyes appeared as though she wasn't conscious—but that wasn't possible, she was talking to him, how could she…of course! "Possession." Hiei grimaced eyeing the person in front of him suspiciously.

"Yes. I needed to find you."

"Me? Why? I don't know you." Hiei grumbled, annoyed by the slight smile appearing on the possessed girl's lips as though to say that the fire-demon was mistaken. "I do not know you; I don't know any demon who would possess anyone."

"Don't you?"

"Not anyone who's still alive." Hiei growled angrily, his thoughts on the only demon he knew who had possessed a human—Kurama had possessed an unborn human before it required a soul, but he was dead, so there was no way that what possessed this girl could know him unless…. No, it couldn't be, but what the girl said when she interrupted Hiei's thoughts—how she answered, saying 'we'—WE! "…Kurama…?"

The girl nodded in answer, sitting back to look at Hiei, a wistful smile on her lips. "It's been a while Hiei."

"But…but…why did you possess a human female? That body doesn't look strong."

"I had to, for protection."

"Protection? You couldn't be in danger, you're…."

"Not me, Akiko's child."

"Akiko's…." Hiei muttered eyes widening as he stared at Kurama in the human female's body. "You don't mean that this female you possessed is that bitch."

"I do."

"But…but….why her? Why help protect her child? She cheated on you, why would you…the child must be yours if you're protecting it."

"It isn't mine, but I do know whose it is—and I reincarnated part of myself into the child to prevent the father from doing the same."

"…." Hiei gaped at Kurama in Akiko's body unable to completely grasp what the fox-demon had said. "You possessed that bitch's child to protect it even though it isn't yours? I didn't know you'd become that kindhearted. Where's that ruthless Youko side of you?"

"He bolted."

"What? What do you mean 'he bolted'? He's you so how could…?"

"My soul's split in two, a side-effect of becoming so humane during my life as Shuuichi; I've become so different from my Youko side that that part of my personality split from me—so now Youko and I are technically two different people now. Though I thought he'd be the one to protect you—I guess he's not as attached to you as I am." Kurama replied, staring at Hiei then looked away for a brief moment, seeming as though he wanted to explain something to Hiei but couldn't figure out how. "And I didn't necessarily possess the child to protect it—not only it. I…."

"Who were you trying to protect if not the child?"

"You." Kurama replied pausing for a second as he studied Hiei's reaction and then continued before the fire-demon could respond. "You see…the child's Karasu's and I feared he might possess it himself and try to get back to you. I didn't want him to hurt you again."

"Fox…I…." Hiei mumbled unable to express how he felt—Kurama wanted to protect him, just to hear his fox say that—it pleased the fire-demon to hear that. "I…Kurama what's wrong? You look weak…you…." Hiei asked anxiously as the fox-demon suddenly gasped for air, sweat pouring down the human female's face.

"I've used too much energy finding you—I can't possess Akiko and the child any longer…can you get Akiko back to the hospital? Or to Genkai? I need to focus on sustaining the child—if I back off even a little bit on protecting the child, Karasu might possess it. I don't know where that bastard is." Kurama replied pausing for a few seconds as he gasped again for breath. "And just so you know…I love you, Hiei." The fox-demon managed to whisper before falling into unconsciousness, collapsing on the ground in front of Hiei, who rushed forward to hold Kurama, eyes moist.

"Fox…me too, I love you as well."

_I'm sorry about not updating for the past few days, I couldn't think of how to write this chapter for a few days. So what did you readers think of that chapter? Did it answer some of your questions? What do you think of all these twists? Please review (One of these days I'll get to reviewing your guys stories, but right now I hardly have time to type my own stories—I have to share this computer with two computer hogs. Oh well, anyway please review!)_


	8. Paying Back a Debt

Rushing hurriedly across the landscape, blurs of greens, blues, and yellows, the silvered haired, tall and slender fox-demon Youko tried frantically to locate Kurounue—knowing that the demon should be somewhere near where he was now. But where was he? Youko had already tried to pick up the demon's aura signal again, but to no avail—Kurounue's aura was gone, but no—it couldn't be, that would mean he was….

"No, Kurounue, where are you?" Youko muttered his yellow eyes glistening in the soft twilight, something was definitely wrong—Kurounue was in danger, but Youko couldn't find him. Damn it, where was he? Now highly alarmed, searching frantically for any sign of the demon, looking through all the shadows, Youko ran around the area again watching carefully for any movement, hoping that he would find Kurounue soon.

However he spotted nothing that could point him to where Kurounue was—in fact there was no sign that anyone had been here recently, but Youko could've sworn Kurounue's aura signal had come from this vicinity. It didn't make sense that Kurounue wasn't around here still—unless whoever attacked him had taken his body away—that could mean Kurounue was still alive.

As Youko searched for Kurounue, from the shadows Karai watched the Spirit Fox, holding an unconscious Kurounue in his arms, the fox cub sitting next to him, eyes gleaming. Not a sound escaped from them until Youko left this part of the forest to search elsewhere for Kurounue, and then the only sound was the quiet footsteps and rustling as they left in the opposite direction.

After ten minutes, the three made it to a clearing with a few tree stumps sticking out of the ground that was covered by a recent growth of grass. Looking around the clearing in a calculating way, the fox cub stood on guard, and then turned back to Karai, eyeing the demon as Karai took a small crystalline orb out of the unconscious Kurounue's pocket. Crystalline and fragile in appearance, the orb glowed a dim white light, the letters NCRS were engraved in its glassy surface and the orb itself was cold even though the glow radiated with heat.

The Necros orb, ingenious. The fox cub thought as he eyed the orb and then studied Karai's reaction to the sight of the orb—the demon's eye widened in surprise and understanding, and then narrowed as he realized how intently the fox cub stared at him. _Give that to me_. The fox cub spoke with his thoughts, harsh, in a voice that expected to be obeyed. However….

_No_. Karai thought-spoke in response to the command, struggling to keep his body from obeying the order.

_Do what I say, brother._ The fox cub replied, staring at Karai with anger in his eyes, moving his mouth into a snarl.

_Go to hell, Karasu. You deceitful bastard._

_Heh._ The fox cub, a disguised Karasu, took a step toward Karai, eyes glowing a dangerous red hue, and then Karai flinched and fell down as though in pain—the same red glow as in the cub's eyes appearing around his body. _Even though I'm not in my normal body, that mark on your side ties you to me—you can't disobey your master._

"Urgh…." Karai bit his lip as the pain whelmed through him—but he had to fight it, he'd been too surprised and afraid before to fight when his reincarnated brother forced him to attack Kurounue, now however, Karai struggled wholeheartedly against the demon. Amazed at how he could struggle against Karasu—it must've been because Karasu no longer had his original body, the bond was weakened due to the fact that the bite Karai received was from Karasu's original body. Though, Karai couldn't help but wonder, he had received a bite from that fox cub, so Karasu should have complete control over him—but the demon didn't, why was that?

_Please give him the orb, trust me_. A new voice spoke in Karai's thoughts, surprising him by its presence. For some reason Karai couldn't disobey this new voice, and what's more he didn't seem to want to. Unable to disobey this new voice, Karai dropped the orb, letting it fall to the ground where the fox cub grabbed it, eyes glistening. Before Karai could do anything, the fox cub ran away into the dense forest clutching the orb in his mouth.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, Hiei stood next to the unconscious Akiko, wondering how he would bring her back to the hospital when he didn't know the way from where he was. Though he could go to Genkai's, but would he be able to carry Akiko all the way back there? Realizing he had to do something, Hiei took a deep breath and then picked up Akiko, feeling the strain on his human muscles, and started walking in whatever direction he chose. Ten minutes later after stopping for a rest, Hiei stared ahead, toward the direction he headed, trying desperately to figure out where he was, when he heard someone walking toward him.

Freezing on the spot, moving only his eyes to stare at where the person came from, Hiei felt himself tensing up, wary of whom it could be. However, he needn't have worried, as one clear look at the visitor revealed the slicked-back, black hair of Yusuke Urameshi, who saw the fire-demon a split-second after Hiei spotted the detective.

"Hiei! Thank god, we've been looking everywhere for you!" Yusuke exclaimed rushing up to the still fire-demon, noticing only when he was a foot away that Hiei stood guard over an unconscious Akiko. Seeing the unconscious human girl, Yusuke stopped, narrowing his eyes as he stared at her and then at Hiei, trying to figure out what happened.

"Detective."

"Hiei, what's Akiko doing here?" Yusuke asked stopping himself from saying 'that bitch' instead of 'Akiko.'

"Not now, detective. We need to get her to either the hospital or Genkai's, whichever is closer."

"Well, my apartment is the closest place around here, so let's go there and I'll get in touch with Genkai. On the way there, you can tell me what's going on."

"I only want to explain once, so we'll wait until Genkai arrives at your apartment," Hiei replied, paused, glancing once at Akiko, and then spoke again. "Could you carry her? It'd be faster that way."

"…um…okay." Yusuke agreed, remembering that Hiei had a human body now, though why he asked instead of ordered Yusuke to carry Akiko surprised the detective. "You're getting a little bit more polite, Hiei." Yusuke spoke, picking up Akiko even though he'd rather just leave her.

"Hn."

Arriving at Yusuke's apartment, the detective laid Akiko down on the couch, and then called Genkai's, informing the person who answered (It wasn't Genkai who answered.) very briefly what had happened, and telling them to get Genkai and come to his apartment. Only a brief time passed after Yusuke hung up before Genkai arrived, more worried about Hiei's condition than about Akiko. However, surprising them all, Hiei demanded Genkai look after Akiko before him, not letting the old psychic near him. So Genkai did what he asked, stabilizing the human girl even though Akiko still refused to awaken.

"There's no point in healing her really, she's fighting to die." Genkai stated afterwards, turning to Hiei, curiosity in her eyes. "Even if the child is Kurama's, there's no way it'll survive unless Akiko tries to live."

"It's Kurama." Hiei muttered, cutting Genkai off when she looked like she'd continue speaking.

"How do you know if it's Kurama's? How…?"

"I didn't say that." Hiei replied, cutting off Yusuke who seemed puzzled—not realizing he'd miss-heard what the fire-demon said. "Yes, you did, you just said…."

"What I said was 'it's Kurama,' as in the child is the fox." Hiei seethed; annoyed that he had to clarify what he meant just because the detective wasn't listening clear enough to what he said.

"Wha…?"

"You've got to be kidding."

"I'm not." Hiei replied and explained to Yusuke and Genkai how he found out about the child being Kurama.

"But what would Kurama pick Akiko's child?"

"I thought he'd have picked Ku-chan." Yusuke mumbled, staring at Hiei and scratching his head perplexed.

"To protect it from Karasu. He didn't want Karasu to possess it."

"…You're kidding…but why would Karasu try to possess Akiko's child?"

Hiei waited a few seconds before answering, forcing himself to remember every second of conversation he and Kurama had after he regained consciousness. Sighing a little beforehand, Hiei answered that question while staring Yusuke in the eye.

"Because…the child's father…is Karasu."

"WHAT! You mean that bitch cheated on Kurama with that bastard!"

"Idiot, I doubt if Akiko was given any choice in the matter. If Karasu wanted her, he would've gotten her no matter what. Those spells the bastard learned from Karai enabled him to overpower me, an A-class demon, easily, what chance do you think a human would have?" Hiei seethed, surprising the detective by coming to Akiko's defense—surprising himself by pitying her after envisioning what she might've went through with Karasu—even if it had been, by chance, consensual, Karasu was horrible in his lust.

"But…Kurama…he walked in on her with a stranger…he would've killed Karasu if it had been that bastard, but it wasn't…."

"The fox mightn't have known, Karasu could take Karai's form, who's to say he couldn't take others—and it's not just the form, he disguises his aura signal as well."

"AH! It could've been Karasu!"

"Not could, most likely it was. That must be why Akiko refuses to get better—she knew the child is Karasu's." Genkai spoke up, realization dawning on her. "Of course, Karasu must've used threats to get Akiko."

"Even if he threatened her, that still is not a reason to…."

"I doubt it was Akiko's life he threatened." Genkai spoke staring at the unconscious Akiko lying on the couch.

"But…."

"Kurama. He most likely threatened Akiko with Kurama's life, that's how he got her in his grasp. The bastard." Hiei grimaced, eyes narrowing as he thought of Karasu, hatred whelming through him, remaining silent until his thoughts wandered to Ku-chan. "Where's Ku-chan anyways? Is he still asleep at your temple?" Hiei asked Genkai, changing the subject abruptly.

"Wha…? No, actually he'd run off, right after we realized you were gone."

"What! You better go look for Ku-chan!"

"But, that fox-cub's not Kurama so…."

"So what? I don't care, and besides, he saved my life, in case you forgot, detective."

"Ah, oh yeah. I did forget for a second." Yusuke replied, taken aback by Hiei's fiery temper. "Looks like you've learned how to grow attached to others. You being human is rubbing off on your personality."

"Just shut up, and let's go find Ku-chan."

"Okay, okay."


	9. Struggles

Meanwhile, running to a mountainside cave, still holding the Necros orb in his mouth, the fox-cub hid in the darkness of the cave's entrance, panting for breath as soon as he was sure he was alone. At first he'd thought Karai may've actually succeed in denying him the orb—Karasu knew his power over his brother's body was weak as long as he didn't have his original body, but relief swam through his veins when Karai dropped the orb for him to grab. That, he thought, could be considered akin to a miracle, he could've sworn his brother would've struggled much longer and stronger, but he must've been mistaken in that assumption.

Surprising, but now that he had the orb, it didn't matter what anyone did, they couldn't stop him, and as soon as he had his original body back he'd reclaim that wretch fire-demon as his slave—maybe he would even give him a demon mating bite, to make sure he'd have power over Hiei at all times. That idiotic spell his brother taught him was flawed—Hiei had escaped from its power and killed him, something he wouldn't've been able to do if under the control of a demon mating bite.

About the only good spell he learned from his brother was the one that disguised his appearance and aura—he had manipulated the dead fox-demon using that power, making Kurama think Akiko had actually cheated on him by choice. Come to think of it, he'd had a fun time tricking Akiko as well—that first time he met her he'd disguised himself as Kurama's human form, tricking her into having intercourse with him and then transforming back to his original body, shocking Akiko severely. That had been most enjoyable.

Nothing, however, could compare to the delight he felt at succeeding in tricking that fire-demon into believing he was his friend—hah that had been the highlight of the past weeks. Though he did only possess the fox-cub as an afterthought, after the wretched fox-demon reincarnated himself into Akiko's unborn child. That action angered Karasu, that child was his so he could do whatever he wanted with it, like he'd done with Hinansho.

Yes, the real Hinansho had been his son, whom he had tormented until the boy committed suicide—sick and disturbing, yes, but Karasu didn't think much about him, the thought of family never struck the sadist demon in any significant way. All he saw in Hinansho was a plan to get his brother as his slave, and ultimately to get either Hiei or Kurama as his slave, Karasu had nearly everything planned for close to three and a half years.

He had even though of tormenting that wretch fox-demon in his dreams like he did Hinansho, but Kurama's own thoughts did well to torment the fox-demon without help. Karasu had merely watched as Kurama struggled to overcome his suicidal depression, though he had been tempted to enter the fox-demon's dreams after Kurama defeated the depression, but saw fit to wait a while before doing so.

Eventually, his patience rewarded him, for his brother Karai revived him, and Karasu took advantage of Karai's stupidity and trust manipulating the demon in his plan to acquire either Kurama or Hiei. He ended up making Hiei his slave, but was thwarted by the fire-demon's feelings for Kurama as the fox-demon lingered closer to death.

That defeat strengthen Karasu's desire to have Hiei under his control, in his power—Karasu hated being thwarted by the fire-demon, especially since it was Hiei's emotions that empowered the demon enough to overcome him. Karasu detest being defeated by something so human in nature. He wanted revenge, thus the reason why, after Kurama possessed Akiko's unborn child, Karasu possessed the fox cub Hiei kept as a pet, entering the body during the first week Hiei took care of it.

Everything worked out fine for him as Ku-chan, that is until the other soul gained some control—this other soul, whom Karasu assumed was the soul the fox cub was born with, tried at first to take complete control of the cub's body, but failing at that, it then processed to warn the fire-demon of Karasu's presence using Hiei's dreams as a method of communicating the warning. So far Hiei never guessed the significance of those nightmares though a vague sense of truth must've dawned on the fire-demon at some point—Karasu was certain of that.

Of course, at first, he wondered if he'd been fooled by Kurama into thinking that the fox-demon was possessing Akiko's child while the fox-demon really followed him, however, he realized that Kurama hadn't tricked him—the fox-demon was possessing Akiko's child. But he could sense it was only part of Kurama that possessed the child, a more human part, leaving it safe to assume that somehow Kurama's soul split into his more human form and his Youko form—an assumption now seen as fact because the Youko part of the pair had confronted him while Karasu stood watch over a sleeping Hiei. Of course he was surprised at first, shocked that he'd been right about the separation and that the Youko cared enough to try to protect Hiei, seeing as Karasu believed, correctly, that the human Kurama was the one in love with the fire-demon.

Bewildered though he was, Karasu thus figured that the soul within the fox cub he possessed was someone of no importance—it cared more about Hiei, so it couldn't've been the real Hinansho, besides Karasu had sealed the boy's soul so it couldn't've been him anyways. That left no one of significance that it could be, so Karasu no longer worried about it.

However….

_It's not so easy, Karasu_. A voice, that of the other soul of the fox cub, spoke to the sadist demon, causing him to gasp and drop the Necros orb—that voice was so familiar to Karasu, it sounded like…but it couldn't be him.

_Who are you? Grr…._ Karasu demanded, growling as he felt the fox cub's body leaving his control—that wretch other soul was trying to take over the body. But there was no way Karasu would let that happen. So he struggled to keep his own control over the body, focusing on the conflict within and not noticing how the Necros orb glowed brightly with pulsating energy.

Elsewhere, just a few miles from the place where Karasu struggled to keep control over the cub's body, Youko still searched for Kurounue, eyes narrowed and senses keen to detect any sign of the demon. However instead of him finding Kurounue, Kurounue found him—or at least Karai carrying the demon in his arms found him, stepping into the small clearing that Youko stood in.

"Kurounue!" Gasping in relief and fear at the sight of his old friend who he recognized even though the demon wasn't in his original body by the pendant hanging from a string around his neck, Youko rushed forward, shocking Karai who hadn't noticed that the Spirit Fox was standing in the clearing. Overwhelmed by relief and yearning though he was, Youko couldn't hold Kurounue in his arms since the Spirit Fox's present form was barely more than that of a ghost or spirit—he had yet to possess a new body. So Youko merely stared wistful and lovingly at the unconscious Kurounue, wishing that somehow he'd be able to touch him, but knowing that that was impossible—unless he had the Necros orb. But even if he had the Necros orb, he wouldn't have his real body back unless he offered enough aura to recreate it—if his more human body hadn't been cremated then he'd have that body but he didn't. (That was the reason why he'd had to use a human female's body to talk to Kurounue when he wanted him to prevent Akiko from causing that accident).

"Ah…you…who are you exactly?" Karai, bewildered by the sight of Youko, whom he never really saw before, asked after staring stunned to silence at the Spirit Fox for ten seconds.

"Youko; the original form of Kurama." Youko replied studying Karai with a sharp look of contempt—this was the demon who had revived Karasu and let him free to do whatever he wished, resulting in the fox-demon's death. "What happened to Kurounue? And how did he come to be in this human body in the first place?"

"I…um…accidentally revived Kurounue's spirit into Hinansho's body when I tried to revive the boy." Karai replied, paused and then spoke again. "Kurounue told me about you, the thief Youko, you and he were lovers in the past."

"Yes, we were, and as soon as I get my physical body back, he and I are going to resume where we left off." Youko replied growling in undertone.

"No."

"…." Youko narrowed his eyes, wanting to choke Karai for his response, but ended up only speaking, snarling his reply. "Regardless of whose body he'd in, Kurounue will prefer me, so he and I will be lovers again."

"Not if he's still in Hinansho's body, as long as he remains in MY lover's body he's mine."

"Grrr…." Youko growled, eyes narrowed as he glared at Karai—a glare that resulted in Karai taking a step away from the Spirit Fox even though without a physical body Youko wasn't much of a threat. "Kurounue's mine."

"Oh yeah? Seeing as I'm the one with the physical body, I don't see how you could stop me if I wished to have fun with him right now."

Anger whelming through him in a matter of seconds, Youko used his energy to control the plants around them, striking Karai with a vine that grazed the demon's abdomen, ripping off his shirt, and causing Karai to release his hold on Kurounue. A second vine zoomed to stop Kurounue from falling, cradling him gently as it lowered the demon to the ground.

"Don't even dare to make threats, I can kill you even without my body—you're not even a threat to me."

"Urr…you're only A class, I'm S class, so you're wrong on that threat part."

"I disagree, you may be an S class demon, but you still reek of the scent of someone innocent of killing—I bet you wouldn't even hurt a fly if you didn't have to." Youko replied, scoffing coolly at Karai's words. "Besides, Hinansho's body is in my possession now; you won't dare attack me now."

"Oh? Why should I fear you hurting Hinansho? Your lover Kurounue's spirit inhabits his body; I bet you wouldn't hurt him because of that."

"Oh yeah? If I killed Hinansho's body, Kurounue would return to spirit form and he and I could be together again." Youko smirked at Karai's gulp and shudder after hearing the Spirit Fox's words, knowing full well that he had the demon at his mercy (though Youko didn't want to kill the human boy just to get Kurounue back—he'd prefer to gain a new body of his own). Waiting for a moment or two for Karai to reply, Youko took in the demon's full appearance, focusing intently on the bite mark on Karai's side as soon as he saw it. "Heh, a demon bite on your side, interesting. You know what that symbolizes, don't you? Especially since it's located on your right side?" He smirked as Karai grimaced and tried to hide the bite a bit too late—while a demon mating bite on either side meant that the demon was a slave, a bite specifically on the right symbolized that it was an 'open slave,' a slave whose master didn't mind sharing—in other words, a slave who was free for any demon to fuck.

"Don't…I…you don't have a body so you can't even if you tried…." Karai stammered finding slight relief over that fact.

"True, but my vines…." Youko had one vine wrap around Karai's torso. "Could remedy that."

"Please…I…what do you want from me? I'll do anything, just don't…."

"The Necros orb."

"Huh?"

"Tell me where the Necros orb is and I'll let you go."

"I…my brother, Karasu, has it."

"WHAT!"

_Whatcha think of that chapter? Who do you think the other soul in Ku-chan's body is? I'd like to hear your guesses, anyway please review! Oh, yeah, I forgot whether or not I specified a side that Karai had the bite on so please tell me if I did! Arigato!_


	10. Untitled

_Chapter Finished! (Just about twelve hours after I updated the site with the unfinished version of this chapter my writer's block lifted andI was able towrite the rest)_

"Please…I…what do you want from me? I'll do anything, just don't…."

"The Necros orb."

"Huh?"

"Tell me where the Necros orb is and I'll let you go."

"I…my brother, Karasu, has it."

"WHAT!" Youko glared at Karai hoping that he'd heard wrong, that the demon hadn't said that Karasu had the Necros orb. "Karasu has the Necros orb! You let him get that orb! You…you…."

"I couldn't exactly help it, he's the one who gave me the bite on my side; he's my master, I…."

"But you should've still been able to resist, Karasu isn't inhabiting the body he was in when he gave you that bite so his control over you isn't complete." Youko snarled, his fear over Karasu having the Necros orb in his possession overwhelming him, along with the angered frustration caused by being one step behind the sadist demon when he usually was three steps ahead of his enemy.

"But…I…."

Meanwhile back at the mountainside cave, the Necros orb glowed intensely bright, encasing the fox cub's body in a blinding white light that slowly faded as the seconds passed. Before the light dimmed completely a bright ray of light shot deep into the distance fading quickly into the darkness.

Growling briefly as he recovered from the shock the bright flash of light had produced, the fox cub looked around the cave hurriedly, his gaze resting on the Necros orb, no longer glowing, laying still on the ground to his left. Stepping toward the orb, the fox cub picked it up in his mouth, his eyes gleaming. Then he walked away from the cave and into the surrounding forest.

During this time, Hiei and Yusuke searched relentlessly for Ku-chan while Genkai stood behind to watch Akiko (Hiei insisted on this just in case Akiko grew even weaker) they both decided that the fox cub must still be in the forest somewhere—Ku-chan had never really been anywhere else his whole life, Hiei had kept to the forests surrounding Genkai's temple for the past weeks. Therefore Hiei assumed that Ku-chan had gone to one of the places they usually stayed in the forest, and so those were the places he and Yusuke headed (the detective had to keep checking Hiei from using his demonic powers—they didn't need the fire-demon to kill himself by overexerting his human body).

It was during their search of all of the fire-demon's hangouts that they saw the bright light glowing intensely from the mouth of a mountainside cave that Hiei had recognized as the one he'd been at when he met Ku-chan. Full of trepidation, Hiei ran to the cave entrance, hoping to find the fox cub and he did, but something seemed amiss—Ku-chan stared at him in a way he never stared before. This look in the fox-cub's eyes reminded Hiei of someone else, of someone he never wanted to see again—but it couldn't be, it just couldn't be him.

"Ku-chan?" Hiei stepped toward the fox cub, unable to look away from those cold eyes—no warmth shone in those eyes now, as though the being behind them lacked some vital part, but how could the loving fox-cub be so cold now—it was like he was someone else.

"Hiei! Oh, looks like you found him." Yusuke spoke as he ran up to the fire-demon seeing the fox cub just a moment before he called out.

"Detective." Hiei mumbled, glancing once at Yusuke, before turning to pick up Ku-chan, blocking the apprehension from building up inside him, but as soon as he touched the fox cub a stab of pain, intense, throbbed from his shoulder paralyzing his entire body for a moment from the force.

Dropping Ku-chan, falling to his knees, Hiei clutched his right shoulder, grimacing in his pain.

"Hiei! What's wrong?" Yusuke asked fearful for the fire-demon who appeared as though in intense pain. However before Hiei could answer he fell unconscious falling the rest of the way to the ground.

Meanwhile, far into the distance, in a solemn, abandoned mansion surrounded by trees, a figure with long black hair and pale skin awoke, his throat covered with dry blood from where a wound, now healed, had been. Blinking his stony eyes as he stood up, clutching his head hazily, apparently trying to make sense of his surroundings, the man stepped forward toward an open window.

"Where? Wha…?" The man muttered staring, dazed, out the window at the sky before gasping, eyes wide with sudden realization. However the gasp was obstructed by a mask covering his mouth and nose, a mask he brought his hand to in disbelief. "I'm…I'm…." He whispered, his eyes turning stoic, unreadable, as he caught sight of his reflection in the window glass—every single clue as to what he thought disguised expertly complete. "The Necros orb must have…but I…he…."

Glancing briefly at the sky and then closing his eyes calmly, he chuckled, his eyes gleaming with bemusement when they reopened. "I can't wait until he realizes what happened, hah." Stepping away from the window he sat down on a chair after surveying the large room decorated with intricate, gloomy trinkets and such. However he only sat for a second before suddenly standing back up—he had sensed someone's aura drop severely. "No, he can't die…damn."

Meanwhile back in the forest clearing Karai and Youko froze and stared into the darkness, both sensing the abrupt drop in that familiar aura.

"Hiei's in trouble." Youko muttered, furrowing his brows as he debated whether to find the fire-demon or to stay here and make sure nothing happened to Kurounue—he didn't trust Karai to be careful enough to protect the demon in Hinansho's body.

"…." Karai nodded slightly and then turned pale when the bite on his side throbbed with new pain—a pain that burned through his veins and filled him with terror.

Trembling Karai stepped back, his attention on a different aura signal some miles away—a dreadfully familiar aura, though it felt a tad displaced. It seemed a little different than before, but so what, it was still wholly the same aura—and it could only mean one thing.

"He's alive." Karai whispered, still shaking terrified by the aura signal, wishing that he'd been mistaken.

"What?" Youko turned to stare at Karai, noticing for the first time that the demon trembled in fear facing the direction opposite the one the Spirit Fox faced. "Karai, what do you mean?" The Spirit Fox asked, wondering what got Karai so riled up, though it was apparent that they were concerned with two separate things.

"He's alive. Ka…my…my…."

"…." Youko stared incredulously at Karai before turning his attention to where Karai stared, trying to pick up whatever aura signal had upset the demon, not thinking it would be significant until he sensed it. "No!" Youko growled, bristling, eyes narrowed—now it was apparent why Karai was so afraid and why Hiei's aura had diminished significantly—Karasu was alive, his aura strong and whole except that it was somehow different than before.

Anger rushing through him, anger derived from fear, Youko glared at Karai murderously. "Now you see why giving him that orb was a horrible idea?" The Spirit Fox growled ready to pounce on Karai in anger even though he had no physical form to do so. "That orb was a revival orb! And you just hand it over to him! It's your fault he'd revived!"

Gulping, Karai stepped back again and ended up falling to the ground, fearful of Youko's justified rage and terrified of Karasu's strong aura signal. "I'm sorry!"

"…." Youko glared at the shivering Karai detested by the demon's actions. "Pitiful, a coward like you is not worth killing—no wonder Karasu didn't stick with you, you must've been his easiest capture. I bet he doesn't even have to snap his fingers for you to become submissive, pathetic."

"…." Karai turned red at Youko's words, but he didn't say anything in his defense, for while he wasn't as cowardly as the Spirit Fox made it sound, he wasn't far from it.

All of his life he'd preferred being a pacifist, much to his family's dismay, and he even learned a difficult spell to change his appearance so that he could make a new life for himself. Ever since he mastered that spell he'd been disguising his true form—even now he wore a disguise, his whole present appearance was artificial due to the spell.

"…you don't even have the pride to deny being a coward—despicable." Youko seethed, turning away from Karai, glancing back only once to speak before leaving. "You don't even deserve to be called a demon."

"…." Karai only stared as Youko jumped away into the forest. Shivering from fear still he inhaled deeply, tears forming in his eyes as he continued to sit, unable to figure out what to do now.

"Maybe you should forget your cowardice and help defeat Karasu." A voice spoke suddenly breaking the silence, and surprising Karai who stared bewildered for a second at Kurounue who stood next to him.

"You…you're awake…."

"Yes, I've actually been conscious since right after you surrendered the orb to Karasu." Kurounue whispered taking in Karai's appearance intrigued.

"You…I…."

"I enjoyed hearing you and Youko fight over me." Kurounue chuckled, giggling harder as Karai wiped the tears from his eyes. "You lost to a bodiless demon—no wonder you settled for a human boy."

"Please don't remind me how cowardly I am—I know already and I don't want to hear it from those lips."

"Can't bear listening to Hinansho's voice saying you suck, that you're pathetic?" Kurounue smirked, studying Karai's response closely; the cowering demon closed his eyes and placed his hands over his ears trying desperately to drown out Kurounue's words. "Hm, pitiful."

"Stop speaking."

"Eh? You are pathetic, a coward. You're…."

"STOP!" Karai shouted surprising Kurounue with the harshness in his tone, harshness derived from his anger and embarrassment.

Shocked, Kurounue jumped back, barely dodging the aura surge Karai sent at him, un-eased by the attack—Karai must be very upset if he'd attacked Kurounue while he was in Hinansho's body. He never attacked him before, even when Kurounue attacked him once in anger, Karai had just turned the other cheek—both figuratively and literally, so his present attack, though small, was surprising.

"Karai…."

"Get away from me."

"But…."

"GET!"


	11. Chapter 11

_It's been a while since I undated, though I don't know if you readers who have this story on alerts got the email that said that I updated the previous chapter since I didn't get the email I usually get when I update, if you didn't I've updated the previous chapter with the completed version of it so you came read it. Well anyway, on with the story..._

Deep darkness, impenetrable, cloaked all of his sight, no beacon of light shined to guide him in the endless emptiness—he was all alone. Numbly, as though distant, he felt the pain—though maybe it was a trick of his memory, just a mere recollection of the pain he felt overwhelm his body before everything turned dark.

Was this death—a calm realm of shadows in which nothing could be seen or felt? If so—it wasn't all that terrible, in fact it seemed preferable to him, seeing as he done nothing in his life that could warrant reward and an awful lot that would warrant punishment. Not that any judgment would do him justice—the judge never lived his life, so how could he understand? He couldn't—nor would anyone even try to.

_You're sure about that?_ A silent voice vibrated through the vacant surroundings, similar to one he had heard before, but calmer, more mature. _There's been someone by you trying to understand you for the longest time—not to judge, just to know._

_Hn, there's never been anyone like that._

_You just never noticed through all of the distractions_. The voice replied, and suddenly he felt as though two arms were pulling him into a tight comforting embrace, but everything remained encased in shadow, so he didn't see them.

_Who?_

_You'll find out soon enough—when you least expect to._

Before he could respond in anyway the arms left and the darkness faded rapidly to gray, growing lighter and lighter until…

"Hiei! Thank god, you're awake!" Yusuke exclaimed staring down at the fire-demon who blinked his eyes as though trying to focus in his confusion.

"What happened?" Hiei asked, sitting up slowly, realizing faintly that he was inside Genkai's temple lying on a bed-mat.

"You collapsed, and wouldn't awaken so I brought you back here."

"Oh…where's Ku-chan?"

"Um…he's here…."

"Where here?"

"In the other room." Yusuke replied, his response triggering Hiei to stand up and hurry out of the room looking for Ku-chan. "Hiei, wait, you should know…."

Upon entering the room Ku-chan was in Hiei froze and stared ahead for a second before rushing forward eyes full of fiery indignation.

"What's the reason for having him leashed and tied up!" Hiei shouted, enraged at the sight of seeing the fox cub with a chain leash hooked to a collar around his neck, with the leash tied around a table leg.

"Hiei, he keeps trying to leave the temple, and while chasing after him might be amusing…" Yusuke looked as though it'd be the last thing he'd find amusing. "We have other things to worry about. I know it's not easy for you to sense auras in your current state, you may want to try." Yusuke finished a grim, agitated look on his face that also betrayed a sliver of fear.

"Hn. You still had no right to tie up Ku-chan—do you know what's it's like to be a captive! It's horrible!" Hiei growled, his red eyes gleaming dangerously enraged, ignoring the impatient urgency in Yusuke's eyes—in his anger he also failed to notice how Ku-chan snarled and growled, struggling to free himself from his confines, devoid of all warmth and compassion.

"Hiei…I…."

"It's terr…ah." Hiei gasped as a spasm of pain pulsated from his heart shooting to his limbs. "Ah…ah…."

"What's wrong?"

Breathing deeply, trying not to wince from the pain that now seemed to be fading, Hiei placed a hand on the table for balance, closing his eyes as a wave of dizziness came and went. Reassurance growing as the pain waned, Hiei sighed untying the leash from the table leg before turning back to a worried Yusuke.

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not, what was that about? You looked like you were in pain."

"I'm fine, detective." Hiei growled, annoyed at Yusuke's pestering even though it was done out of worry for the fire-demon—maybe he was being an idiot for not putting more stock to his body's warning signs of pain, but anyone who tried to get the fire-demon to admit his weakness right would be hard put to do so. For the moment Hiei stubbornly determined not to give any credit to his pain or weakness, because they did have other serious concerns to worry about. "Right now we need to find out where Karasu's soul is before he can figure out how to reincarnate…." The fire-demon stopped speaking as Yusuke's expression turned uncomfortable and anxious, as though he knew something dreadful that Hiei didn't. "What is it, detective?"

"It's too late for that."

"Too late?"

"Yes, I…you're lucky you can't sense auras at the moment or you would know…."

"Know what?" Hiei asked hesitantly, hoping that what he thought the detective meant wasn't true but somehow he knew it was.

"Karasu's alive, while I carried you back here I sensed his aura surge up from out of nowhere—I'd hoped it would vanish, but it's only become steadier since."

"And how long has he…?"

"At most fifteen minutes."

At that moment, before either demon could continue speaking, Ku-chan pulled excessively on his leash desperate for Hiei to let go, and apparently anxious to leave the temple. So determined to escape, Ku-chan, not getting anywhere by pulling against the leash, stopped, turned around and bit Hiei's hand, the shock of which caused the fire-demon to drop the leash, terribly surprised.

"What the hell? Ku-chan!" Hiei exclaimed, alarmed by such a display of aggression by the fox cub, holding his bitten hand with his unwounded one. Blood seeped out of the punctures created by the cub's teeth and pain throbbed from the bite—it had neither been a playful one, nor had it been a mildly impatient nip; it was a savage, uncaring attack, shocking both Yusuke and Hiei with its aggression.

"What's gotten into him?"

"Do you think he could've hated the leash that badly?" Yusuke asked stammering in surprise a little, unnerved himself over the bizarre occurrence—the fox cub had never been hostile to anyone like that his whole life—at least never had Yusuke seen him hostile. "He'd been like this for the past fifteen minutes, growling and trying to run into the forest, toward…." Yusuke explained, stepping down on the leash so that Ku-chan couldn't continue running, realizing the significance of his words only as he spoke them, and gasping as he determined where Ku-chan tried to run to. "It couldn't…."

"What? What is it, detective?" Hiei asked wrapping the bandana he wore out of habit around his forehead around his bitten hand.

"Ku-chan keeps trying to run toward where Karasu's aura signal is coming from—and he's been doing so ever since I sensed Karasu's aura surge."

"AH! You think he can sense…?"

"Yes, I'm sure he can—but he can't be a normal cub if he can do that."

"I…he could lead us to exactly where that bastard is—let's let him go and follow." Hiei suggested looking at Yusuke and then stared at Ku-chan who had stopped struggling at Hiei's words—as though he understood every word. Now Ku-chan waited patiently, his cold eyes gleaming with an unreadable emotion, though he kept looking at the leash and then to Hiei and Yusuke.

"Or we could walk him and let him lead the way by his own accord."

"Yes."

Meanwhile at the mansion, inside its gloomy walls, he, the black haired demon, stared straight ahead, a cold, calculating glimmer in his eyes.

"Yes, you better come here—I have some business with you. But…" Suddenly the odd gleam into those stoic eyes turned ruthful, sparkling. "I don't want him to come, too."

_Please tell me what you think in your reviews, I appreciate it. ( I originaly planned for this part to be nine chapters like the previous one, but now I think I may have be at least fifteen now--fifteen because I have a thing with numbers in which the separate digits add up to 3, 6, or 9. I'm almost obsessed with those numbers.) Anyway, there's going to be one more sequel after this one, as well as a story explaining what Hiei did in the demon realm during the three years he was there. Then I may write a Youko/Kurounue story._


	12. Chapter 12

Quietly a brief breeze flitted past Karai who still sat unmoving on the ground in the clearing. He had hated hearing Kurounue, with Hinansho's voice, call him a coward, it hurt him deeply even though he knew it hadn't really been Hinansho. In fact, it hurt him more since it wasn't Hinansho—he had to accept that it wasn't Hinansho in order for him not to get hurt by those words, but accepting that the boy was gone stabbed him in the heart with agony. For the past few years he struggled to convince himself that Hinansho wasn't gone, and the fact that Kurounue inhabited the boy's body added to the illusion that Hinansho was alive.

But now a dilemma faced Karai, and in his desperation to protect himself from the hurt Kurounue's words produced, he had forced the denial from his thoughts, tearing away the illusion.

"Hinansho…."Karai mumbled shuddering as tears welled up in his eyes threatening to fall. Kurounue had left quickly after Karai's outburst, heading in the same direction as Youko, leaving Karai alone.

_Karai._ A silent voice, heard only in his thoughts, resounded softly in Karai's mind.

_Who?_

_I'm sorry, but I need a favor from you._

_What?_

_I need you to acquire a specific item for me, and bring it to where I tell you._

_I…why…I don't…._

_Do you want to repent for your mistakes?_

_Yes._

_Then do as I ask._

Meanwhile elsewhere in the forest, Youko paused a moment on his way to where Karasu was, he sensed someone running toward him from whence he came—someone whom he'd known. Upon seeing Kurounue, still in Hinansho's body, running toward him just a few feet behind, Youko sighed—he wished he had a real body right now, but he no longer had the Necros orb so he couldn't borrow anymore bodies. Anyway the body he'd borrowed to talk to Kurounue when he'd wanted him to prevent Akiko's accident was no longer usable—it had been the body of a recently deceased girl who by now would be cremated. So even if he had the Necros orb he'd have to find another body on which to use it and that had taken him days the previous time.

"Youko." Kurounue spoke as he caught up with the Spirit Fox his thoughts more on talking with Youko than on finding and killing Karasu.

"Kurounue, it's been a while."

"Yes, too long. I should've told you sooner."

"I already knew."

"What?"

"I knew who you really were from the moment I saw you." Youko specified, not at all surprise by Kurounue's shocked expression.

"But why didn't you say anything?" Kurounue asked eyes wide, a doubting, yet frustrated gleam in his eyes. "You never even hinted that you knew."

"That's because I couldn't, my more human form and I were separated even though we inhabited the same body—I didn't have any control over that body for those last few weeks. All I could do was watch; my 'Kurama' side never realized who you were. I don't know if he even knows now."

"Oh, but why did you split? How did you split your soul?"

"I'm not sure how, it just happened. I guess it began sort of like a split personality, but progressed into a split soul. Any how it began a few years ago, during a time when my 'Kurama' personality was depressed, I couldn't stand it and I think that's what started it."

Kurounue only stared at Youko, absorbing the information with a strange hunger—he wanted to know everything that had happened to Youko since their parting in the Spirit Fox's voice; he already heard everything from Kurama, but it never seemed that it was the Spirit Fox speaking. However, after his explanation about how his soul split, Youko seemed adamant against continuing talking about anything before they found Karasu.

And so they both continued on toward the place Karasu's aura signal was coming from, silent as they ran. When they arrived they found that the aura came from a large mansion, western European style, with balconies on the assorted windows on the upper floors, no lights on at all. However one window was open, balcony-less, and it seemed as though the aura signal came from the room to which the window led.

Before, however, they could go any farther, a noise, as of two people running, attracted their attention back to the trees. On guard, they both braced themselves for anything until they saw who the two runners were.

"Hiei, Yusuke." Youko murmured waiting for the shock that was sure to arise from the sight of him, however Hiei only glanced at him before averting his gaze, though Yusuke did seem about to question Youko, but didn't. "…."

"I've already spoken with your other half." Hiei mumbled the explanation at sight of the questioning look on the Spirit Fox's face. "I know 'bout the separation."

"Oh."

"I see who you like better." Hiei whispered, motioning to Kurounue who was put off that the two already knew about Youko's and Kurama's separation, and not paying strict attention to anything else.

"Just like you prefer my other half." Youko replied, smirking when Hiei made his usually 'Hn' sound, but he knew he was right.

"…that window's the one." Hiei spoke up after a brief period of silence, his words enticing Yusuke's and Kurounue's curiosity.

"But you can't sense auras anymore, how do you know…?"

"Because that's the same window I escaped from after I killed that son of a bitch."

None of the three knew what to say, neither did they know what exactly had happened to Hiei when he was Karasu's captive—Yusuke assumed it'd been something terrible, so did Kurounue, but only Youko had any idea what that something was; Karasu had the gall to make his own brother his sex slave, so doing the same to Hiei seemed logical. Though it was apparent that Karasu hadn't bit Hiei at all—if he did, the fire-demon never would've been able to disobey.

Silence lasted between them for a few moments, the three uncertain of how to treat Hiei, wondering if the fire-demon needed comfort, but that moment ended when Ku-chan pulled against the leash Hiei still held. Neither Kurounue nor Youko noticed it at first, but when Ku-chan struggled, they did. At first, Youko wanted to kill the cub, but then remembered, and realized, that with Karasu being revived; it couldn't be the bastard's soul in Ku-chan's body anymore, could it?

"So, while it'd be easy for you two to jump up there, Hiei and I lack that ability at the moment. Along with Ku-chan, of course." Kurounue voiced that concern partly because it needed to be and partly to change the topic to a more comfortable one than Hiei's captivity period.

"Hn, I don't lack the ability." Hiei corrected Kurounue who looked at him strangely, "I can jump it, but I'd probably overwork my body by doing so."

"We'd still need to find some other way to get up there."

"I…." Yusuke began, looking from Kurounue to Hiei and then back again. "How 'bout both of you wait out here? I doubt it'd be safe for either of you inside."

"What?"

"There's no way I'm staying out here, detective. I want to kill that bastard." Hiei growled narrowing his eyes. "Even if it kills me."

"I won't allow that to happen." Yusuke replied stubbornly. "I won't lose another friend because of Karasu."

"Detective." Hiei stared at Yusuke, touched by the boy's words and protectiveness. He didn't quite understand why it affected him so, but it did—though he guessed it was because his human heart was more moved by stuff he'd hardened his demon one against. However even his human heart wouldn't override his own stubbornness to fight Karasu; nothing that Yusuke said or did would make any difference—Hiei wanted to be the one to fight and kill Karasu.

"Hiei, you're in no condition to fight, neither is Kurounue for that matter." Yusuke spoke when he saw that stubborn gleam in the fire-demon's eyes.

"Yes, so both of you should stay out here." Youko agreed with Yusuke, disregarding Kurounue's and Hiei's frustrated stares.

"What about you? You lack a physical body, so how can you be anymore able to fight?" Hiei demanded glaring at Youko.

"…." Youko smirked and narrowed his eyes, using his aura to control the plants around them. "I can still control plants, so I'm not totally useless."

"…."

"But I doubt that there are any plants inside." Kurounue softly spoke when the fire-demon didn't. "And I'm certain you can't exactly carry any seeds or plants with you—you need a physical body to do so."

"I…I…." Youko mumbled looking away from them all, arms crossed, eyes closed briefly, as the words 'you're right' escaped his barely moving lips.

"…hm…that means I'm the only one actually able to fight Karasu right now." Yusuke muttered, sighing briefly as he looked from one demon to the next, wondering if he should go by himself to face Karasu.

Before any of them could move or speak the front, double door to the mansion opened leading into the dark interior.

"I…ah, I think Karasu wants all of us to enter the mansion."

Suddenly Ku-chan pulled extremely hard against the leash, enough so that it slipped out of Hiei's grip, and then he ran toward and through the open door, with the fire-demon not far behind.

_End of chapter twelve_


	13. Switched Identities

Hiei and Ku-chan quickly disappeared into the darkness beyond the open doorway, leaving the three other demons behind; the fire-demon had rushed after the fox cub so automatically that his other companions barely knew what had happened for a few moments. When they realized, they ran toward the threshold as well, but just as suddenly at the double door opened it shut, and the three had barely enough warning to stop—in fact Yusuke didn't stop in time and ran right into the door.

"Damn it!"

"That must've hurt." Kurounue stared at Yusuke, who clutched his nose muttering curses not quite under his breath, and placed his hand over his mouth trying hard not to laugh.

"…Let's go back to trying the window." Youko walked away from the door and back in view of the one open window, shaking his head instead of laughing it wasn't time for humor, it was time to be serious. "I guess not."

"Huh?" Kurounue turned to look at Youko, stilling his urge to laugh at Yusuke who grew angry at even the most stifled of Kurounue's chuckles. "Youko, what is it?"

"See for yourself." The Spirit Fox grimaced, motioning to the upper windows to their left, and waited for his two companions to notice.

"Wha…? Bullshit…."

"He had to close the window, too?"

"Now how do we get in?"

"Break in."

Meanwhile on the other side of the door, Hiei glanced back once when the door shut, but had no time to think about it since Ku-chan continued to run forward through what seemed an endless hall. Heavily shadowed, with the only lights spread out with no less than fifteen and as much as twenty feet between each, the hallway provided Hiei an obstacle in his strive to keep up with Ku-chan—he could only track the fox cub by the pitter-patter of footsteps running across the bare floor.

"Ku-chan, come back here!" He shouted into the darkness un-eased by the silence that shrouded him. Ku-chan had stopped running. "Ku-chan?" Hiei spoke again, his tone almost as quiet as the silence.

_Hiei._

"Who?" He backed away, unsure whether to continue on or wait—he definitely sensed someone nearby, but strangely it wasn't through their aura. Some how he knew someone was there even though he used none of his senses.

_I don't want you to get hurt or be hurt_. The silent voice spoke again; its originator, Hiei could sense, was right behind him. Vaguely this voice was familiar to Hiei, and he didn't fear it—actually he relished it. _You should turn back now._

"Not without Ku-chan. I want to know who he is."

_Sometimes it's better not to get what you want._

Soft and delicately two smooth hands touched Hiei's arms, enticing him to close his eyes as he felt the gentle touch on his flesh and his soul. The touch whelmed through him and he remembered the voice he heard in his mind the day he found the fox cub—the day he tried to end his life.

That day the voice had said 'No, don't do it', carrying a sweet, calm passion in its words—not spoken in the ears but through the soul, overwhelming and complete. Today it was the same feeling, its words were neither command nor request—just a pleading—the desperate begging of someone hoping to spare someone unneeded pain or heartache, but unable to force them to.

Hiei didn't know what to do, should he continue to follow Ku-chan and maybe find out his identity or should he do what the voice pleaded he do, and leave? Slowly his resolve to find Ku-chan faded; he lately felt only dread when the idea that he may find out who the fox cub was, cropped up, something warned him against it. But he needed to know.

The presence behind him seemed to sense this, and Hiei felt warm, gentle lips kiss the back of his neck, soft and feathery. Something about this caress calmed Hiei into a tranquil state and erased all of his fears and worries—situating brief warmth within and throughout his heart.

But this slight symbol of passion was brief, and the touch of soft lips left Hiei's skin a split-second after making contact. Opening his eyes, Hiei sighed and turned to see who was behind him, but the person backed into the shadows, obscuring the fire-demon's view.

"Let me see your face."

_No._

"I want to know who you are."

_Who I am and what form I inhabit are two different things._

"That doesn't matter; show yourself." Hiei replied, stepping toward the shadows—he wanted to know who the person was, and why he hid from him.

_It would matter to you._

"…." On the verge of shouting, Hiei narrowed his eyes frustrated that the person in shadows could see him while Hiei couldn't see the person.

Before Hiei could do anything to voice his anger whoever hid in the shadows rushed past him and down the hall, a blur of black in his vision. By the time he looked to where the person ran, he was alone in the endless corridor, nothing but the varying degrees of light and darkness in his sight. Left alone in the dark (both literally and figuratively) Hiei sighed and continued forward, walking farther along the corridor.

Meanwhile sneaking into a room cloaked by deep shadow with the only light that of the full moon shining through the window glass, Ku-chan looked warily about as though searching for someone or something. Inching carefully forward the fox cub froze at the sight of a figure dressed completely in black standing in the moonlight and staring out the window.

"You've made it, I see."

_Yes, I made it_. Ku-chan spoke with his thoughts, growling as he did so, his eyes glistening with intense hatred and anger. _Give me back MY body!_

"Your body? Heh, I think you're mistaken, this body's mine."

_Liar, thief! You stole that body with the Necros orb, I belong in that body, and it's I who should've been revived in it! _Ku-chan rushed forward ready to attack the person standing in the moonlight, raging like a demon until the figure turned around.

"Why, brother, you are quite mistaken." The figure dressed all in black smirked, his long black hair falling slightly over blazing red eyes that glistened with amusement at the shock in the fox cub's eyes.

_Karai! You reverted yourself to your original form, why?_

"He did so, on my orders, Karasu." A different voice spoke from behind the fox cub, a voice very similar to Karai's. "I told him everything. But you're the one who convinced him."

_What!_

"I didn't believe him at first that he revived in your body instead of you. But you just admitted to it." Karai, in his never seen original form, spoke calmly, staring intensely at Karasu in the fox cub's body, his red eyes fiery.

_I see you got smarter by returning to your original form, brother. Or did your friend here help you out?_ Karasu seethed, turning to stare intently at the figure behind him—the true thief of his body.

"It's over Karasu."

_Urr…who the hell are you anyway? You're that wretch fox aren't you!_

"I prefer the name Shuuichi."

_Wha…? You are the fox._

"Only a part, the third and final part actually. After Kurama's most recent death, three personalities separated into three souls; Kurama, Youko, and me, Shuuichi." The figure, the Shuuichi part of the soul in Karasu's body, spoke in a polite tone and paused for the information to sink in. "While Kurama and Youko know about each other, they don't know about me. I've kept silent about my existence until now."

_You…you're the one who reincarnated into the fox cub!_

"Yes, I've been three steps ahead of you this whole time; I'm awfully glad that that attribute bestowed itself on me during the separation. I've thwarted your plan because of it."

Karasu growled, his eyes gleaming with hatred and frustration—he was defeated, unless….

_Karai! You wouldn't let him kill the only one who can tell you where Hinansho, would you?_

"He already told me where to find Hinansho." Karai replied, stepping toward Karasu who froze at those words.

_How…?_

"I've been able to read your thoughts and memories while I shared the same body with you. I learned a lot of useful stuff." Shuuichi spoke, pausing for a few moments before continuing. "You trapped Hinansho in the barrier between the Human and Demon realms, that's why Karai couldn't revive him and ended up reviving Kurounue instead."

_You…you annoying bastard, I'll kill you! _Karasu bristled and rushed up to Shuuichi, forgetting that the boy was inhabiting his body.

Before he could sink his teeth into the body's flesh, someone rushed up to him and stopped him, holding his mouth shut tightly.

_So what did you readers think? Surprised? If you read the few previous chaptersclosely you would have discovered that I never mentioned Karasu's name while describing the mansion scenes, only when I wrote the scenes with Yusuke and the others did I mention his name and that's because they believed it _was _really Karasu. Anyway, this part of the story is almost finished, about two more chapters or so, and then I'll start either writing the next part, or work on some of my other stories. (This story and 'To Say Goodbye' were the ones I worked on the most so far.) Please, if you're fans of Yu-gi-oh as well as Yu Yu Hakusho fans, read and review my other stories.(I'm eventually planning on making a YYH/YGO crossover where Pegasus and Kurama become a couple(!)) Anyway, if you have any ideas for crossover couples please tell me! Read my profile to know what animes I watch and tell me which ones you want me to write fanfics about._


	14. Chapter 14

Hiei stared down at the struggling fox cub that he now held, making sure he couldn't escape or bite. His red eyes gleaming in rage, hurt and disbelief, the fire-demon shuddered against his will—he'd overheard everything, even the thought-speech of the fox cub confessing that he was Karasu. The demon hadn't directly confessed, but it was pretty much certain that it was Karasu.

Even without hearing that indirect confession, Hiei could still tell that the fox-cub housed Karasu's spirit—he'd gotten back his Jagan along with his demonic body; something he noticed after the figure in shadow left. His Jagan now seemed able to sense the difference in souls instead of just auras, and he knew right away that it was Karasu's soul in Ku-chan.

How could he have been so blind? Those dreams he had, had tried to warn him of this, but he never paid much attention to them. Now he wished he had—at least he wouldn't be so shocked and disappointed by the discovery. Overwhelming hatred, anger and bitterness rushed through his demonic veins, making him quaver with fury. He didn't want to believe it—he couldn't believe it, Ku-chan had been his closest companion for the past weeks, it couldn't be true.

"But it is true." Shuuichi whispered just loud enough for the fire-demon to hear. "That's why I wanted you to leave—I didn't want you to be hurt."

"You're the one who spoke to me in the hall?"

"Yes, I didn't use my voice because it's Karasu's and I didn't want to upset you. I'm sorry."

"Why should you be sorry? I'm the idiot who was tricked by Karasu, twice."

"Hiei, don't be so hard on yourself."

"Why shouldn't I? I'm the one who was tricked into thinking this bastard was a friend—I bet he just saved my life to trick me easier."

"Karasu wasn't the one who saved you." Shuuichi stepped up to Hiei and knelt down, not surprised when Hiei refused to look at him.

"Hn."

"I'm the one who saved you. Karasu wasn't possessing the fox cub that day, I was. At least I'm the one who reincarnated myself into the cub's body—Karasu didn't enter this body until that first week at Genkai's."

"You let him?"

"Hiei…."

"You let him possess Ku-chan's body even though you knew how much I…how much I cared for that cub?"

"I was weak, I couldn't stop him—I haven't really inherited any demonic powers from the separation, actually, my soul is the part of Kurama that liked being human, and so my soul is human. I apologize, Hiei, but the only thing I had in my favor was my intelligence. I couldn't control any part of the cub's body after Karasu took over—otherwise I would've killed myself rather than watch you get hurt." Shuuichi paused, tears in his eyes shivering with sadness. "If you didn't show up, I'd have been able to make it as though the cub died accidentally, I would've kept up the illusion that he was your friend."

"You're not going to kill him."

"Hiei, he's Karasu."

"I don't care! He's still Ku-chan to me." Hiei replied through clenched teeth, holding back the sob in his throat as his eyes filled up with unshed tears of bitterness.

"…." Shuuichi nodded and backed away, turning his gaze to Karai, taking in the demon's full appearance with one glance: the demon's long hair reached his thighs, and was all black except for a row of short spikes behind his bangs. Those spikes were white and they separated Karai's bangs from the rest of his hair, moving in a semi-starburst pattern from one ear to the other. And though the bangs fell half the length down Karai's face, the demon's fiery red eyes gleamed intensely from behind them. "Karai, do you have the mirror?"

"Wha…oh yes, here." Karai answered taking out and handing Shuuichi an item—the Mirror of Darkness (Forlorn Hope in the Anime).

"The full moon's bright tonight. Hm." Shuuichi stared wistfully out the window before taking the mirror and stepping into the light. "You know what to do; destroy the body afterwards."

"Yes."

"What?" Hiei jerked his head to look at Shuuichi and Karai anxious to know what they meant. "You better not mean Ku-chan…."

Shuuichi only glanced at Hiei at those words, his expression difficult to read, but he shook his head after a moment. Turning away again Shuuichi placed the Mirror of Darkness on the part of the floor covered by the moonlight, and then gazed out the window directly at the full moon.

"Mirror of Darkness, awaken in the moonlight." Shuuichi spoke after kneeling down beside the mirror his face expressionless as the mirror glowed brightly at his words. "Let your face show my desire that I may invoke your power."

The mirror glowed brightly at those words and showed Shuuichi an image that Hiei couldn't see from where he knelt with Ku-chan.

_The restoration of this boy is that what you ask me to grant?_ The mirror asked at which Shuuichi said yes and then whispered another thing that neither Hiei nor Karai could hear. _Um…that's a difficult wish to grant, two wishes in one._

"That's what I wish you to grant, nothing more, and nothing less." Shuuichi sighed and closed his eyes, opening them again at the mirror's next words.

_One life isn't enough to suffice two wishes._

"Then take my soul in payment as well."

_You'll offer your life and your soul for the fulfillment of these wishes?_

"Yes."

_Then your wish is my command._

Short Chapter, I know, and it looks like there might be sixteen chapters to this story. (I used some of Kurama's dialogue from the manga when he used the mirror to save his mother--I couldn't figure out what exactly to write so I used the manga for reference).


	15. Chapter 15

_Sorry about not updating for a while, I've been writing more to my other stories_

Light and electrical energy sprouted from the mirror and wrapped around Shuuichi, draining away his life while Karai and Hiei watched silently, and Karasu growled and glared.

But Shuuichi didn't pay much more attention to his physical surroundings, and focused entirely to the images—the memories, flashing through his mind. Memories of his life in the human world, and the times he'd spent with his friends and family, were beautiful. He would miss them, he knew that, but with his wishes he'd make sure they wouldn't miss him.

Wistfully he thought of the wishes he'd made—that he'd planned to make ever since he reincarnated himself as the fox cub—wishes that would set things right.

_Mirror, I give my life for you to restore my Kurama identity to his human form and life. And I give my soul for you to erase the past few weeks from the memories of those who knew him only as Shuuichi—thereby erasing all of the grief they felt and still feel for losing him._ He smiled at the thought and felt the rest of his life energy leave him—everything then went dark.

Silent, Hiei only stared, numb from shock, as Shuuichi collapsed on the floor. Somehow, all of this seemed unreal, as though it should only be a dream and not reality. But it wasn't a dream, and Hiei felt cold as the truth sunk in—the human part of his fox, Shuuichi, sacrificed not only his life but also his soul to make a wish, two wishes; wishes Hiei was sure were made to help the fire-demon. But what were the wishes?

Slowly Hiei noticed that Karai was walking toward the mirror and Karasu's body—the body that Shuuichi had been in—and only now realized that no aura signal came from it. Numb in disbelief, the fire-demon kept his gaze centered on Karai, wondering what the demon would do when he felt the fox cub struggling to escape again. Holding tightly to the cub, Hiei stared at it, feeling sick to know that the cub was truly Karasu and not Kurama as he had hoped and believed.

"Make sure you don't let him escape." Karai's voice interrupted Hiei's thoughts, and Hiei looked back at the demon, studying his appearance with the utmost interest. Karai's whole appearance had changed from before, his red hair was now pitch-black and his auburn eyes were now strikingly red, eyes that seemed familiar to Hiei.

"That's your true form?" Hiei continued to gaze into those eyes, wondering why they looked so familiar.

"Yes. Make sure my brother doesn't escape." Karai whispered the last part and then turned back to Karasu's now soul and lifeless body, hand raised out in front of him.

"What are you going to do?"

"I need to destroy my brother's body so that he can't restore himself. But first I have to wait for the signal."

"What signal?" No sooner did Hiei say those words than a surge of aura, many miles away, overwhelmed his senses, captivating his attention. This aura, it was so familiar, but it couldn't be—it couldn't be right, he couldn't be sensing _this_ aura.

"That signal." Karai sighed, gazing once again at Hiei who stared at him bewildered and struggling not to believe what he sensed. "Shuuichi told me the wishes he would make, and one of them was to restore Kurama's life and body. The other was to erase his death from the memory of those who only knew him as Shuuichi."

"The fox…is alive…?" Hiei felt tears well in his eyes—tears of hope and relief, he wanted it to be true, but he was having a hard time believing that it was.

_Hiei._ A voice resounded through his thoughts, his fox's voice.

_Fox?_

_Yes, it's I._

_I…missed…you._

_I've missed you as well._

_Where are you?_

_Just follow my aura, Hiei, you'll find me and I'll stay where I am until you do._

Hiei's whole body trembled with relief and emotion—his fox was alive! His fox was alive and waiting for him, all he had to do was find him. Find him and take him as his own like he should've done before.

"Hiei," Karai's voice interrupted Hiei's thoughts, but remained silent after until Hiei looked at him. "You must stay and prevent my brother from escaping until I destroy his body. After that you can go find Kurama."

"Hn. Hurry up then."

"All right." Karai turned back to his brother's body and charged up an aura blast, directing it to the body. Before he could release his attack, the fox-cub Karasu struggled desperately against Hiei, biting the fire-demon and escaped from his hold. "HIEI!"

Free from Hiei's hold, fox-cub Karasu snarled glaring first at Karai then at the fire-demon, and then at his own motionless body, before focusing entirely on the stunned fire-demon. Knowing that he couldn't make it to his body before Karai destroyed it, Karasu lunged at Hiei and, before the fire-demon could react, raked his teeth across the fire-demon's face. Two deep gashes about two inches long appeared on Hiei's left cheek after the attack, blood dripping down his cheek from each. Steadying himself after the attack, Karasu pounced again at Hiei, this time lunging for the fire-demon's throat.

"SPIRIT GUN!" Yusuke yelled after rushing into the room and seeing the fox-cub's attack, surprised and angry at that betrayal. Fox-cub Karasu, however, dodged the aura attack by stopping in his lunge, resulting in the blast passing him by as it continued until it hit a wall. "Hiei, are you all right?" The Spirit Detective rushed toward the fire-demon, who sat holding his hand to his wounded cheek.

"I'm fine, detective."

"Why did Ku-chan attack you?"

"Long story, detective." Hiei stood up still staring at the fox-cub who moved as if to lunge again. "Hold onto the cub before he tries that again."

"Oh, oh right." Yusuke grabbed fox-cub Karasu before it could lunge again, making sure it couldn't struggle at all. "Mind telling me what's going on? Why can I sense Kurama's aura? He can't…be…alive…can he?"

"He's alive, detective, but save your questions for later."

"He is…alive?" Yusuke stepped back and turned to look in the direction the aura signal came from, before looking back at Hiei. Shocked by this revelation, Yusuke loosened his hold on the fox-cub oblivious to the cub's viciousness.

"Don't let go of that cub!" Both Karai and Hiei yelled when they noticed.

"Wha…oh…." Yusuke held onto the cub tightly again, remembering how the cub had attacked Hiei. "You better explain everything when we get back to Genkai's."

"We will." Karai relaxed when he saw that fox cub Karasu was securely held in the detective's hands, and then he turned to Hiei. "Hiei, seeing as the detective's holding the cub, you can go find Kurama."

Barely did those words escape his lips before Hiei rushed out of the mansion and into the forest; heading in the direction Kurama's aura signal came from.

"H…." Yusuke stared at were the fire-demon had been standing, shocked by how fast he'd left. "He shouldn't be using his powers…."

"Don't worry about him, detective."

"Ah…you better tell me what's going on and how could you look like…like…."

"Like my brother? This is my true form; I've been using a disguise until now…I'll tell you why I reverted to this form after do what I need to."

"Ah…okay."


	16. Chapter 16

_A/N: This is an incomplete chapter, I'm posting this because it's been too long since I last updated this story. Sorry about that, but when I'm done writing the rest of the chapter, I'll post it._

Hiei ran through the forest, a blur to the sight of any onlookers, his heart beating faster each step with the anticipation of meeting his fox. His fox's soft, rose scented hair and enchanting green eyes clung to his memory, not a single bit faded though, except for that brief encounter before his fox's death; he hadn't seen Kurama alive for three years.

So many things he should've done differently, so many things he did wrong—if he had known that that night would've been the last time he'd see Kurama alive he would've—he didn't know what he would've done. All he knew was he would've made it last.

As he rushed toward Kurama's aura, he realized how fortunate he was—Kurama was alive again, and how he had the chance to rekindle the fire between them. He could say everything he always meant to say—things he should've said before.

Drowning in his thoughts Hiei kept running in the same direction until he realized he couldn't sense Kurama's aura anymore—when he realized that, he stopped and landed on a tree branch.

"Fox…."

'You can still find me, Hiei—I'm waiting for you.' Kurama's voice said in Hiei's mind teasingly.

"But, your aura."

'You can find me without it—or have you learned nothing about me?'

"Fox." Hiei closed his eyes and grimaced—his fox wanted to play games with him, at the very moment Hiei needed him most. But Kurama's voice no longer spoke in his thoughts, thus he was forced to search for his fox without help from his aura. 'Hn, you'll be easy to find fox—you always smell like roses.'

Calmly, Hiei focused his concentration and sniffed the air; Kurama always had a distinctive rose smell about him—not of those roses sold at flower shops, but of natural roses with the heavy scent not bred out of them. For a moment, he sniffed the air before he narrowed his eyes, realizing that though the rose scent was strong he wouldn't pick it up high in the trees—Kurama knew of his scent and wouldn't be foolish enough to hide somewhere where the scent was out of place. Not only would that reflect poorly on the fox, Hiei would feel patronized by such lack of effort.

Without a sound, Hiei jumped down from the treetop and landed effortlessly on the leaves and dirt.

Eyes opened wide, Hiei glanced around at his surroundings, not caring about the various flowering plants around him. After a moment, he closed his eyes and sniffed again, grimacing at once when the scent of the flowers around him bombarded his nose.

"Ur…." Hiei growled and sneezed at the overwhelming fragrance, and then he looked at the flowers again, this time realizing that many of them were roses—though with various forms and color.

'It's not as easy as that, you have to use your brain more, Hiei.'

"Fox, quit playing games. I want you now."

_As I said, it's an incomplete chapter, short. Anyway, make sure you keep checking this story for updates since I don't think the site emails alerts for changes to chapters already posted, only for chapters and stories added._


	17. Chapter 17

_I know I said in the previous chapter I was going to add to that chapter, but I decided not to. Anyway I'm just glad that I got to go on the internet again YAY! I don't know how much I'll update though since I'm at my stepmother's and forgot to bring my stories to type---so everything will be off the top of my head. Anyway, on with the story._

"Fox, quit playing games. I want you now." Hiei mumbled, his piercing red eyes glaring that the roses with a mixture of hate and desire—they reminded him of his Fox whom he loved, but they were now preventing them from finding him. Their scent lulled him close to a state of bliss, almost soothing him to remain among them without worry, but he wanted Kurama too badly to allow their seduction to work.

_Hiei…_Kurama whispered the word in his mind, longing himself to feel his lover's caresses, and remained achingly still while his heart screamed to end the game—the test he wanted Hiei to take and pass. He wanted, no, craved for Hiei to pass, because then he'd know Hiei did pay attention to him as a person and not just as a sexual object. If Hiei passed then he'd know... _Know what? That he loves me? I already know that. _Kurama fought again the urge to reveal himself to the fire-demon, though each thought made it harder to hold back—he wanted Hiei as much as Hiei wanted him, but he needed him to…._ To what? Pass a test that I know he's not going to try to pass? A test I don't really need him to pass?_

Biting his lip, Kurama struggled to remain silent, knowing that any sound would clue the alert fire-demon—that was partly why he desired to make a sound, by accident or on purpose. Though, if it was wanted, would that really make it an accident? Kurama swallowed back a sigh as his vibrant emerald eyes studied the now fidgeting fire-demon; He sensed Hiei's fiery aura building in frustration and saw the tensing of the fire-demon's fist—then the flicker of a black flame surrounding the white bandage around Hiei's forearm.

_No, he's going to use that attack? Ur…should've known he'd try the quickest, surest way._ Kurama's hair stood on end and his body tensed, not from fear, he'd never fear the fire-demon, but from worry over the flowers, he'd hate to see them destroyed. Still he stood silent, reminding himself he could re-grow them easily afterwards, if he wanted Hiei to pass the test he'd have to endure seeing the vibrant blooms destroyed. _At least he's not attacking my favorite plant. He's too preoccupied by the roses._

"Fox." Hiei stood up straighter, but let no other clue slip—he'd sensed movement, though he didn't know from where yet. He looked around with hope akin almost to arrogance filling his body. But that passed when no other hint of the fox-demon's whereabouts revealed itself. _Of course he wouldn't make it that easy after going through all this trouble. Hn._

"Damn it, Fox." He growled, his fist clenching tighter, he wanted to blow every obstacle between him and his fox away. "Damn…huh?" A wanton breeze blew pass him, alarming him at its suddenness—and at the gift it brought. Unclenching his fist he caught the gift in his palm, and stared wide-eyed at it.

A single, light pink colored petal lay in his open hand, a petal unlike any of those on the roses—or other ground flowers.

His lips twitched into a smirk as his hand turned into a fist once more, and the black flames grew around his forearm. One quick look in front and to his sides told him what he wanted—and his eyes glimmered with excitement.

_Hiei? What's…oh god._ Kurama flinched when Hiei turned around and stared at the tree he hid behind—a cherry blossom tree, surrounded by flowers of all sorts of colors. _He found me? He really found…_ "Ah!" He gasped at the black flames surrounding Hiei's fist, which the fire-demon aimed straight at the tree. "No, Hiei!" Kurama jumped out from behind the tree between it and the fire-demon's hand. "Not the cherry blossoms."

"Heh." Hiei smirked and moved his hand away. "Gotcha Fox."

"Hiei?" Kurama studied his lover hesitantly, still blocking the tree warily when Hiei laughed.

"You really thought I'd harm that tree? _That_ tree? Your _favorite_?"

"My…you mean I….I…." Kurama's dumbfounded expression changed to a chuckle as he realized what had happened. "You weren't going to use your flame on the tree? You fooled me?" He laughed good-naturedly, amused by how his test turned out.

"Hn." Hiei sprang at Kurama, catching the fox-demon off-guard, the force of his jump bringing them against the cherry blossom tree. "Yes, fox, you should know this tree is special." The fire-demon grinned breathing into the fox-demon's ear as he held Kurama's arms at his side.

"Special? Because of me?"

"Because its petals will be our blanket." Hiei purred wickedly into Kurama's ear, pressing against the fox-demon.

"Hiei, you don't mean, _here_? H…." Kurama fell silent, his words cut off by the fire-demon's sudden kiss.

"That's exactly what I mean."

They both fell into each other's embrace and slid to the ground next to the tree, surrounded by vibrant blooms and the cherry blossoms now freely floating through the air.

_So, how did you like that ending? As I said, I just came up with this as I typed—It might've been better if I worked on it longer, but I can't stand denying you all the pleasure of reading more to this story after all this time waiting for an update. Frankly, I can't stand denying me the rapture of reading your reviews after so long, even if they aren't good. I really need to get a life…Ah, who needs a life when you can write fanfics all the time? Yay! Please review! I'm in a strange mood now, I'm not usually so hyped up…whatever, Review, review! I hope you enjoyed it!_


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